Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Touch The Sky ❯ Touch The Sky ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Touch the Sky

Author: Persephone-sings

Date: 12/14/04

Touch the Sky

He had always wanted to touch the sky, he told her absently on his fifteenth birthday. They had been preparing for anther mission and the sky had been clear and the sun had been shining brightly.

Ino, surprised that Shikamaru would make unnecessary conversation, had resisted the urge to mark the momentous occasion on the calendar and had settled for making a promise to herself.

Because Shikamaru had always fought for Ino's dreams, Ino was determined to fight for his. By his nineteenth birthday, Ino swore that Shikamaru would touch the sky.

She first went to the smartest girl in their class at the academy, but Sakura had no idea where to start learning how to touch the sky.

"Why would you need to touch it anyway?" She had asked tiredly after Ino's barrage of questions.

Ino didn't have a ready answer for Sakura besides one and she didn't think that Sakura would be satisfied with it, so she just shrugged and moved on.

What Ino didn't know was that Sakura, ready to do anything and give everything for one dark-haired Uchiha, would have understood perfectly.

Ino continued on her way, however, stopping at her professor's apartment.

Finding no satisfactory answer there, she headed to her jounin leader's house.

Then she went to her parents.

In desperation, Ino turned to the fifth Hokage.

Receiving only a smile and a gambling offer, Ino realized how little time she had left.

No one could or would answer her question and Ino, discouraged beyond belief, finally turned to the smartest man in the village.

She found him on the grassy hilltop that faced away from the village.

"Ino, what are you doing here? I thought you had to work?" Not opening his eyes, Shikamaru turned his face towards his blonde teammate.

Almost in tears, Ino faced Shikamaru on his nineteenth birthday without a way to fulfill her promise. Throat tight, she could only watch and wait for him to see her failure.

He cracked open an eye when there was no answer from the normally talkative girl.

"Ino?" Seeing tears in her eyes, he sat up, alarmed. "What happened? Are you okay?"

She sniffed and rubbed at her drippy nose. Shaking her head, she dropped down on the grass next to him.

"I couldn't do it." She managed to get out through her sniffles and sobs. "I didn't do what I wanted to do and now your birthday is ruined!"

Shikamaru, more confused than ever, rubbed her back and wondered what the hell he could say to make her stop crying. He hated it when she cried and her pretty eyes got puffy and red.

"What did you want to do?"

"You wanted to touch the sky, remember?"

He smiled, thinking that when he had said that, he hadn't meant the actual sky but the fathomless blue of her eyes.

"Yeah, I remember."

She burst into new sobs, "I don't know how to let you! I can't think of it and no one will tell me how to do it!"

He watched her, astonished.

"Ino . . ." His eyes softened and he wiped away her tears with his warm fingers. "My sweet Ino. You must have gone through so much trouble."

She watched him, tears pooling in her eyes still. "Not enough. I didn't find the answer. What am I missing, Shikamaru?"

He smiled and cupped her face in his hands, pushing her blonde hair away from her face. "Don't you know, Ino?"

She shook her head in the cradle of his palms.

He pressed a soft kiss against her lips and pulled back to help her end her search, "Ino, I thought you knew."

He rested back against the grass and pulled her into the circle of his arms.

" You've always been my sky."

She let out a shaky sigh and chuckled weakly against his neck.

"You're so troublesome, Shikamaru."

She pressed a kiss against his pulse and focused on helping him touch his sky.