A ShikaIno Fairytale

Once upon a time in a far away land there lived a prince. This prince never seemed to have much fun in his own kingdom and claimed it was a 'drag'. One day his parents decided to hold a ball hoping there son would have a bit more fun.

Prince Shikamaru danced with many girls that night; it was mostly a show for his parents. When he got bored of dancing he went out on the balcony, since there were no clouds to look at he looked at the stars. Suddenly a girl appeared next to him. He had never seen her at any of his parents. She had long blonde hair tied into a ponytail and blue eyes.
"The stars are really pretty tonight." She spoke in a soft voice.

The prince found the girl intriguing; most girls fawned over him as soon as they saw him. This girl just smiled and talked about the stars, she didn't even seem to notice the prince was standing there. He liked that, not being noticed.

The clocked chimed 11 and the girl suddenly became aware of her surroundings, well sort of; she looked at the prince and then ran off like she was searching for someone.

Shikamaru followed her "Are you looking for someone?"

The girl turned to him "Yes, I'm looking for the prince I have to find him before midnight."

Shikamaru let out a soft chuckle "Would you like to dance while you look?"
The girl blushed and nodded. The two of them danced until the clock struck twelve. The girl quickly ran off and left the ball before the prince even learned her name, as she left she dropped a barrette with diamond flowers on it.

The prince picked it up an examined it. He spent the next several days thinking about the mysterious girl from the ball. He was positive that he was in love with her; the only problem was he didn't know who she was or where she was. He sent people out to look for her only to be disappointed when they didn't find her.

What the prince didn't know is that the girl was in the one place he didn't look, she was the castle's gardener's apprentice. Her name was Ino. She had once lived with her parents in the village outside of the castle, but her mother died and her father remarried. Her stepmother poisoned her father and tried to kill her too, but she escaped and had lived here in the castle with the royal gardener Kurenai ever since.
Shikamaru went to his teacher Asuma for advice.

"Well you could always put up an announcement about the barrette, but don't say what it is. Whoever claims it and can tell you what the item ism, is the girl you are looking for."

"That's genius Asuma!" he quickly left and made the announcement.

Dozens of girls made their way to the castle claiming the lost item was theirs, but none of them could tell him what the item was. A girl with pink hair walked up and claimed the item was hers and that it was a bracelet. A girl in blonde buns claimed it was a pair of earrings. A girl with long dark hair claimed it was a book. Another girl with dark buns even claimed it was a shoe.

"No sorry that's not it." The prince tried to say it was gently as he could so none of the girls got their feelings hurt.

When Ino had heard the prince's announcement, she couldn't believe it. The prince had found her mother's barrette, the only thing she had left of her mother. She wanted to claim it but she was scared, she was a palace servant, she couldn't let the prince know she had been at his ball. She hadn't even seen the prince. The boy from the balcony was very handsome though. She felt it strange that she worked at the castle and had never once seen the prince; many of the servants had never seen him actually. The prince kept too himself most of the time and only his personal servants were the ones to have seen him. Kurenai's voice suddenly brought her back from her thoughts.

"You know I think you should tell the prince that the lost item is yours."

"Kurenai I never even saw the prince at the ball, he expects the girl to be someone he danced with or spoke too. The only guy I spoke to at the ball was the boy I told you about from the balcony."

"Yes but it doesn't hurt to tell him anyway."

After several hours Ino got the courage to go to the place the girls with information on the lost item were supposed to go. When she got there she found the boy from the balcony sitting at a desk looking at some papers.

"Umm hi I was just looking for the prince; I'm the owner of the diamond flower bracelet that he found at the ball."

The boy looked up "You?"

Ino nodded "You're the boy I talked to on the balcony, we talked about stars, and then we danced."

The boys smiled "Yeah I remember. You said you were looking for the prince right?"

Ino nodded.

"Let me go get him for you." He ducked behind the desk and then stood back up with the bracelet. "I'm glad I finally found my mystery lady."

"You're the p….prince?"

Shikamaru nodded "Yeah I tried to tell you but you ran off before I could, you don't have to call me your majesty though, my name is Shikamaru."

Ino blushed "I'm Ino; I'm the royal gardener's apprentice."

"Well that explains why I  couldn't find you, I never thought to search my own castle."

Ino laughed, and suddenly Shikamaru kissed her. "I had a wonderful time at the ball and was wondering if you'd do me the honor of being my wife."

Ino blushed and nodded.

Prince Shikamaru and Ino got married and lived happily ever after.

THE END.