Took me long enough, right?

Lol maybe one day we will do a Harry and Hermione thing, even if it's just a oneshot. I adore you too much to let some of your big dreams die. That's why we're back to ShikaSaku~

So I highlighted his insecurity a lot. He grew up around all the girls his age really craving for Sasuke, and natural good looks and flashy talent aren't things he can compete with, so I brought that up a few times. I just wanted that to be clarified in case you thought he believed himself an ugly person. Not ugly, just... not what a girl his age wants as a person.

I think there are a couple options from here to get into the main plot point, which is the fake dating:

A) Sakura mentions that the best way to show his desirability is to be taken, and she brings up fake dating someone, and he looks at her for it, so we go from there. 

Or

B) Sakura tells him she'll talk to Ino and see what she thinks of him already, then get back to him later on, and then Shikamaru comes up with the idea of fake dating instead of Sakura, and she agrees from there.

A and B can be interchanged with who actually comes up with the idea, but A feels a little fast because Sakura has to suddenly get into character about liking Shikamaru who had just fake-asked her to be his girlfriend and she agreed. I feel like that level of acting is something she has to perhaps sit down and think on, or sleep on, because at this time she's been Sasuke-crazy for the last couple months since he failed to be brought back.

BUT if we went with A, and Sakura's faster than I think she is, we can have Shikamaru leaving Sakura to go, and Ino SEES him leaving her, and she asks what it was about. Sakura can CHOOSE to set up the fake dating thing from there to help him out and get back to him later about what she got him into, which could make for a funny interaction. 

No option is wrong. It all leads to the same road, just a matter of how we travel. Let me know. And I hope it was an okay post.