Princess in Shining Armor

Summary: Ino is cleaning up her things when someone visits her.

Couplings: ShikaIno

AsnGothic: This is my first one-shot! Haha. . .stuff. Anyways, this is also an AU fic and let's all pretend Ino and Shikamaru live in the 21st century, mmkay? This is just a small little caption story.

Kasumi: Hey? I'm your muse, don't I deserve a little say?

AsnGothic: Kasumi and her bug hasn't been helping me. --; I've been fresh out of plots. So no thanks to you, Kasumi!

Kasumi: Hrmph.

AsnGothic: Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto. Enjoy the fic!

"Princess in Shining Armor"

By: AsnGothic

Boxes fell on boxes as Ino quickly stacked up her stuff. She piled up her clothes and books in a large clump, not caring where they landed.

"I can't believe dad is making me clean up my room! All because someone is visiting. . ." Ino muttered to herself.

Her dad had told her to clean up her room a few days ago, but she put it off until her room was as messy as a pig pen.

"It's only a small mess. . ." she said. Grabbing a small red dress, she walked over to the mirror and held it out in front of her. It was atleast two sizes too small. 'Maybe this cleaning was a good idea. . .' she thought to herself. It landed on the floor as she furiously threw it on the ground. Ino walked over to her closet and threw out the rest of her old clothes. She kicked her clothes into a pile.

She then walked over to her purple book case and looked at the covers, throwing her old school books into the pile as well. Her hands stopped on an old fairy tale book.

"Rapunzel, eh?" she asked. Her lips ran into a smile as she fingered the cover and spine. She slid the book open.

She shook her head shamefully at the pictures. The colorful pictures showed a princess with long blonde hair sitting a dark tower calling out to a prince for help. She skimmed through the words.

"The witch locked up Rapunzel. . .Rapunzel was put into a dark tower. . .she waited for her prince to come. . . He brought Rapunzel to his empire where they lived happily for many years. . ." She shut her book immediately and her eyes twitched. "What a disgrace" she said, "Are all princesses like this?" Her fingers itched to read the book again. She tried to hold it back, but she ended up opening the book once again, staring at a picture of a fairy-tale kiss.

"How sweet. . ." she murmured. Sad as it was, Ino had never had her first kiss yet. Every time she watched a sweet romance movie or read a fairy-tale story, she'd always dreamt of her perfect knight in shining armor to deliver her the kiss she always wanted. That's all that she could do, though, dream. A knock on her musty window shook her from her thoughts. Ino unlatched the lock on her window and looked outside. No one was there. She turned back to her books when a voice came from the window.

"Hey, Ino. Reading Rapunzel?" a voice snickered. She spun around quickly with widened eyes, but she sighed a breath of relief when she saw who it was.

"Go away, Shika-kun, before I get you in trouble." Her mouth twitched into a sneer.

Shikamaru blew a breath out. "I just thought you needed some help."

"I don't need help."

"Ok. . ." he said in a sing-song voice.

"Wait! Ok, I need help. . ." Ino called after him. A chuckle escaped his lips. Sitting on Ino's windowsill, he eyed her room. It was a mess.

"What were you doing reading Rapunzel when your room's a mess?" he asked her.

"Waiting for my prince to come." She said casually. His eyebrow arched.

"I was joking, you know."

"I know."

Ino huffed triumphantly.

"Your book is opened to the kiss scene." Shikamaru observed.

"Are you going to help or not?" Her voice was louder this time.

"When I came here, I thought I'd rescue my princess instead." He snickered at her.

"I don't /need/ a prince to save me." Ino smiled sweetly at him. "I'm my own knight."

"Oh? Aren't you the one stuck in a tower doing chores?" he questioned her. Ino seethed at him.

"That's different" She stood up from her work and closed her book.

"How so?" he asked.

"I'm waiting for my prince to come and deliver me a kiss to wake me up." A wicked smile from Ino was shown to Shikamaru. For once, Shikamaru had nothing else to say and he was taken aback. He quickly caught himself before he fell off the window. "I'm waiting."

"Th-this is stupid." Shikamaru crossed his arms. A gawk came from the blonde as she fumed at the casual Shikamaru.

"You're just scared!" she retaliated.

"I am not!"

"Prove it!" Despite how scared Ino was, she closed her eyes and walked up to Shikamaru, her lips slightly puckered. Shikamaru approached her, then backed up scared.

"I can't do this." he stated.

"I knew you were scared" Ino snickered at Shikamaru.

"I couldn't do it because. . .I can't kiss you at a moment like that." Ino stared at him and awaited an explanation. "I want to kiss you for a reason better than to prove I'm not scared."

"Like what?" Ino asked him.

"Like when a prince comes to save a princess."

"You're saving me from work, Shika." She joked. Shikamaru laughed sincerely at the joke. Suddenly, he picked her up and Ino let out a shriek from surprise. His hands were tucked securely under her knees and back. Her hands balled into fists and she hit and kicked him rapidly.

"Not until I rescue my princess." He answered sweetly. Ino stopped slowly and her eyes bored into his. Within an instant, Shikamaru's lip was on top of Ino's in a sweet kiss. It was just a short kiss with no tongue, but both begged for more as Ino deepened the kiss. Shikamaru pulled away a few minutes later, and Ino stared at him in awe.

"That was. . .my first kiss. . ." Ino said softly.

Shikamaru smiled at her like he made a break through.

"How dare you steal my first kiss!" She yelled at him in anger. She pounded on his back furiously until she realized his lips were on hers again. Immediately, she stopped and closed her eyes, leaning into the kiss.

"That's not all I'm gonna steal. I'm going to steal your first kiss, your second one, your third. . ."

"Shikamaru. . ."

"And my princess." Pecking her on her lips again, he tightened his grip on her and stood on the windowsill. All of a sudden, they were out the window and she had left her room that was still a mess. 'I'm still my own knight', she thought, 'but sometimes knights need help.' Her eyes crinkled into a smile.

AsnGothic: Haha! My first one-shot! It was a little lame, ne? Well, review and tell me what you think! The 'her eyes crinkled into a smile' was kind of a Kakashi thing. . .