A/N: Hello everyone! This is the first chapter of my new story! I did a poll on a new story idea to work on, and I picked this one for a couple reason. One because it was one of the top few votes for on the poll I did. And two, because I felt inspired to write this. I always feel like when I writing a story, the writer should feel inspired, and this idea was the one I felt most inspired to write.

I know Sakura and Shikamaru being together is a different pairing than most people thing of, but I found interest in the idea of them being together. As they are both really intelligent people, and I find it would be interesting to see their personalities mix with each other.

Some things to note, just so you all aren't confused. This is taking place in later Shippuden time. After the Pein invasion, but Asuma is still alive. The village has recovered considerably by now.

I hope you all enjoy this first chapter!

Mid-afternoon, May 2nd, Sakura's POV

Kicking up a little dirt, Sakura kept on pushing herself to run a little faster. The sound of her heartbeat was pounding in her ears. She had developed a layer of sweat on her skin. The feeling of the wind passing by hit her warm body was welcome to her. Her eyes focused forward, and she used her peripheral vision to distinguish where she was. She had taken off in the forest near her Team's training grounds, and had been running on and off for over an hour. All she could really tell was that she was deep in Konoha's forest. Everything around her had started to take on a lightened glow. Partially from her exhaustion, and partially from the bright sunlight that shown down after the cloud that had been blocking it moved.

Team seven had come back from a weekend long mission about half an hour before she started her run. The thought of how the mission turned out, had her pushing herself to go even faster. It wasn't until she felt her muscles starting to fail her, that she finally slowed down. The worn out muscles throbbing. Having stopped towards the bottom of this big hill that was just off the bank of a medium sized pond. She recognized the area to being one of the highest spots in Konoha apart from the Hokage monuments. Coughing slightly at the burning feeling she felt from her lungs begging for more oxygen. She started to slowly walk the length of the grassy edge just a few feet from the pond. Back and forth in a pacing like motion.

Closing her eyes briefly, she got a flash of a memory from the mission. The memory of getting attacked with her teammates. Keeping her eyes closed as she turned around to continue walking. Vividly remembering the enemy coming towards her and her team, and it caused an almost choking feeling to start in throat. Enough to where she coughed, and felt like she'd throw up. She felt this so strongly, because she knew. She knew very well why those enemy ninja attacked her team, when they were doing a simple b-rank mission that wouldn't require anyone having reason to attack them. The team was close to finding out…

Stopping by the waters edge, she took a deep breath, and opened her eyes. That they were after me. At that thought, she slipped off her shoes, and dove into the pond. Swimming around, she started to lose track of time. The coolness of the water hitting her hot skin felt wonderful, and it was like her mind numbed momentarily. Slowing down, she felt the water pull around her, and knew she was getting close to where the water in the pond left to continue down a river. As this pond had a waterfall on one side, and a river continued on the other side.

She swam away from the river to stay in the pond, and finally felt the burning of her lungs strongly. Surfacing, she took in a deep breath, and caught her breath. Adjusting so she was floating on top of the water, she looked up at the sky. I was able to keep the enemy ninja quiet from mentioning anything to my team… She trailed off, remembering the punch she had delivered to the ground. Then the cloud of smoke that rose up. As soon as the smoke was gone, so was the enemy. Taking in a deep breath, she allowed herself to sink under the water, as she let go of the air in her lungs slowly. Closing her eyes, and sinking lower in the water.

She wasn't sure how long she had continued to drop lower in the water. All she knew is that everything around her was still, apart from a slight pull from the water moving from the waterfall across the pond to the river. Although a differing movement in the water above her, had her opening her eyes. Looking upwards to find someone was standing on the water's surface. She couldn't distinguish who it was, and didn't really have much time to try to figure it out. The person had knelt down on the water's surface, and started to reach their hand towards the water.

Ten minutes before then

Walking through the forest, Shikamaru irritably pushed some branches out of his way as he walked. I don't understand why I have to suddenly be responsible for everything. Just because I'm suddenly considered old enough because I'm seventeen? That's ridiculous. My parents still are treating my like a child even though they keep insisting I act like an adult. The thought of what it was that his parents wanted him to suddenly be responsible for made him cringe, as it certainly was not his style. I honestly would rather do anything else than-

Stopping mid-thought, Shikamaru moved quickly to where he was mostly hidden behind a tree. He turned his head to look around the tree. He was at one of his favorite spots in Konoha. It was a big hill. The second highest place in the village apart from the Hokage monuments. He was more towards the bottom now, and had caught sight of someone across the bottom of the hill. Focusing more on this person, he finally recognized this person to be Sakura Haruno.

She had just stopped running, and looked as if she had been running for a while. He watched her begin to pace the flatter part in-between the bottom of the hill and the pond to cool down. He heard a few coughs from her here and there, and watched her face each time she turned to walk in the general direction he was hiding at. By the look on her face, he could tell she must have had something on her mind. When she had stopped suddenly, he wondered if she had sensed him. But when she took off her shoes, that thought dispersed when she dove into the pond.

When she didn't come up right away, he found himself second guessing his first thought on if she had figured him out. Thinking she could have used herself diving into the pond as a decoy to sneak up on him, but his attention was brought back towards the pond when she resurfaced there. He watched her shake her hair out of her face, and move to float on her back. She remained like that for a minute, then she sunk under. However, this time after a few minutes of her not coming back up, he found himself wondering even more. Another half minute went by. Where is she?

Without really thinking about what he was doing, he stepped out from behind the tree, and moved over towards the pond. Jumping out to where she had been before, he landed on top of the water. It rippled out around his feet. When the water settled again, he was able to see her. At first she had her eyes closed, and then she opened them. Seeing her remaining there and not moving, he raised an eyebrow. What is her problem? His body moved without much direction from his conscious, and he kneeled down and reaches his hand to the water.

Sakura's POV

Not having any reaction time, as this person had broke the water's surface, and had wrapped their hand around her wrist, Sakura found herself being yanked right out of the water. With her hair in her eyes, she couldn't really see who was holding her, but she already started protesting. "Hey! What do you think you are doing?! Put me down!" Her words sounded much weaker than she meant, as she was coughing and trying to catch her breath at the same time.

"Are you going to try and drown yourself again?"

Hearing this familiar voice, Sakura stopped her struggling and moved to push her hair from her eyes. "Shikamaru?"

"Who else did you think it was?" Shikamaru countered, finally walking off the surface of the pond, and once on the grass he moved to set her to her feet.

"I couldn't see from under the water," was Sakura's reply, as she was still trying to catch her breath. It was quiet for a moment when she finally managed to catch it. Her thought went to the question he had first asked her. "I wasn't."

Shikamaru, who had been swiping some of the water off his arms from having carried her, looked over to her. "What?"

"I wasn't trying to drown myself," Sakura told him, moving towards the hill, and sitting back on the grass. Propping herself up with her hands behind her on the grass, she enjoyed the sun hitting her as she extended her legs flat on the ground. "I was cooling off."

"Are you sure about that?" Shikamaru asked her, his eyes questioningly on her. "You were under water for almost five minutes."

Sakura kept quiet, as she thought. Five minutes huh? It didn't feel like that long. Shaking her hair out again, she closed her eyes, and felt the chill of the wind. It was early May, and the weather had already started warming up considerably. But there were still moments of occasional cool air during the day. "I'm sure. I have no reason to try killing myself," she said finally, noticing that didn't stop the frown on his face, and she sighed heavily. "But since you are so convinced that I'm suicidal, I'll be sure to let you know the first time I think about offing myself, alright?"

Crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at Sakura, Shikamaru studied her in silence.

Feeling like he was still staring at her, Sakura opened her eyes. "For goodness sake, I'm fine! Really!" She told him, leaning back so she was laying on the grass, and closing her eyes again. "Your mission of making sure that I'm not trying to drown myself is complete. You saved me, are you happy? You can go on your way now, and stop staring at me."

A smirk grew on Shikamaru's face, as he hummed lowly. "I'm still here, because this is my spot."

Sakura's eyes snapped open, and she had to raise her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun to see Shikamaru. "Your spot?" She asked, seeing him nod, and that had her laugh. "Right, because I forgot that we all have designated areas to be in this village. My bad for overstepping into your territory."

"You are being rather sarcastic to someone who just, as you said, saved you," Shikamaru retorted, a smirk appearing on his face.

Having been slightly taken aback at Shikamaru joking back with her, Sakura turned her head back to face the sky. "I'm not going anywhere," she closed her eyes, and took a deep breath and released it. "This is the one place in Konoha my damn team can't find me, and I'm hiding from them at the moment. Plus, it's not like there is not enough room here. This hill is huge."

It was quiet after Sakura finished speaking. Shikamaru still observing her. Finally, he moved to give a distance of about five or so feet in-between them, before he sat down on the hill.

Hearing him sitting down, Sakura opened her eyes again. "Just because I'm here doesn't mean you have to sit so close to supervise me. I promise I'm not going to start destroying this place. I just said this hill is huge-"

"This is my spot remember?" Shikamaru interrupted her, his eyes had remained on her. "Since it's my spot, I get to chose where I get to sit. You are a guest."

Sakura actually smiled hearing that. "Wow, I've been upgraded from a trespasser to a guest in all of two minutes. I feel so special," she laughed, resting her arms down on the grass beside her. The sun warming her up.

Finding himself amused at how she so easily countered his joke with her own, Shikamaru's swept upwards towards the sky. They were left in a surprisingly peaceful silence that had brought his thoughts back to Sakura. I don't really know her all that well, so naturally I just assumed she was like Ino. High strung, constantly talking, and troublesome. But, she doesn't strike me as that type of person. His thoughts switched over to something she said before she had sat down on the hill, and he grew curious about it. "You said that you were hiding from your team?"

"Yes- I mean no," Sakura sighed heavily, and opened her eyes. "No, I mean yes. Really no, but kind of yes. I mean-"

"So which is it? Yes or no?" Shikamaru asked, moving to lie back against the hill. Smirking at her making a simple answer complicated.

"Yeah I am…" Sakura trailed off, thinking of the mission they just got back from again. A big frown on her face.

When she didn't elaborate further Shikamaru actually found himself actually wanting to know why she is hiding from her team. Why do I care? Typically when I talk to my friends, or really anyone else for that matter, it only takes me less than a minute or so before I lose interest… I'm never this curious. I usually just deduce things myself if I am curious. His eyes swept back over to Sakura. "Are you going to tell me why? Or am I going to have to ask?"

Slightly surprised that Shikamaru bothered asking, Sakura's eyes lowered down to the tree line. Just barely able to see the tallest buildings in the village from the low part of the hill they were on. "We just got back from a mission, something happened on it, and now they won't stop questioning me." Planning to leave it with that, Sakura pushed herself up, and moved to go higher up on the hill.

Moving his head so he could let his eyes travel up the hill behind himself, Shikamaru watched her walking to go sit higher up on the hill. Without second guessing it, he got up as well to go follow her. Sitting back down near her once closer to the top, he looked over to study her. Seeing that just talking about what was on her mind briefly seemed to unsettle her. Not planning on giving into his curiosity this time for the sake of keeping from making her so unsettled, he was surprised when she continued speaking.

"If I tell you, I'm going to need you to promise to not question me at all about the mission, and what happened on it. Nor go and tell anyone else about this," Sakura spoke up, remaining sitting up now that they were higher up on the hill. Her elbow resting on her knee, and her chin on her hand. The other hand was pulling at the grass near her feet. Her eyes watching the village, as now she could see many of the smaller buildings, and almost all the way across the village from this height. The sun was beginning to set.

Pondering once again as to why he was so curious to find out what was on her mind, Shikamaru finally nodded when he couldn't come up with an answer. "Okay."

"It was just a simple mission of us delivering something from Tsunade to one of the smaller villages in the Wind Country. We were gone most of the weekend. We had been traveling back the past day and a half, and this morning we were attacked. It was so sudden, and because the mission being so simple, no one knew why these people were attacking… other than me," Sakura started, taking a deep breath, and kept her focus forward. "I knew why, and I had to make sure my team wouldn't find out. Because if they knew… I just don't want to put them in that position."

At Sakura pausing, Shikamaru noticed her eyes flicker down to the grassy hill below them, and a frown form on her face.

"After the enemy disappeared, my team was at first questioning to what happened, but then Sai pointed out that I was being quiet. Then the next I knew they all seemed to figure out that I knew something, which I denied immediately," Sakura said, giving a short sarcastic laugh. "Of course, I did actually know something, but I couldn't tell them. So when they realized I wouldn't tell them, they kept pestering me all the way back to the village. As soon as we got here and checked in with Tsunade, I bolted."

It was quiet and Shikamaru realized she was finished explaining. Right away, thoughts of several questions he wanted to ask circled his mind. He lined up for good ones, but had to push them back. Realizing he wouldn't be able to ask them, as it would break his promise to not question what she had told him. Finally his eyes went back to her, a question he knew he could ask on the tip of his tongue. "So what? You've been running from your team since you got back?"

"Well, I went home first," Sakura replied, surprised he kept true to his word and didn't ask her any questions about the mission. "After dropping my bag off, I changed into some running clothes, and then took off. Knowing that if I stayed at home someone from the team or all of them would show up and end up cornering me. We've only been back for maybe two hours, and I've avoided them so far. I'm hoping by the time I actually go home they'll have given up for the day."

Continuing to watch her, Shikamaru thought of another question. "Okay, this is not a question about what happened on the mission? So can I ask it?"

Sakura sighed, and her eyes went back up to look at the sky above the village. "I am not going to promise that I will give you answer, but go ahead."

"Does the Hokage know what you know? About why the people attacked?" Shikamaru asked, watching her already nod.

"Yes, she does."

"Then why don't you ask her if she can get your team to back off?" Shikamaru questioned, as that seemed to be the most logical solution.

"Because," Sakura started, her eyes finally going to meet Shikamaru's. "She wants me to tell them. But, I believe it's for their own good not to know about it. So I can't go to her and ask her to tell them to back off. Because she wouldn't do it. She would just tell me to tell them."

Watching Sakura for a moment longer, Shikamaru moved to lay back on the grassy hill. "So does this mean you are going to stay here longer then?"

Sakura smiled at his question, and moved to lay back as well. Except this time on her stomach. Resting her head on her arms, facing her head away from him, she sighed. "Remember, this is a big hill Shikamaru. Plenty of space. Enough for you to share."

Hearing her say that, made a genuine smile appear on Shikamaru's face. Keeping his eyes on Sakura, who was looking away from. There was something about her that made him realize that he didn't mind her staying here with him.

A couple hours later

Unlocking the door of her apartment, Sakura heard whining on the other side, and it made her smile. Opening the door she was greeted by her two dogs, whining happily that she was now home. Shadow was an all black German Shepherd. Tank, also a German Shepherd, was a bit more traditional in his furs color. A mixture of sand colored fur and black fur. His legs, and most of his face just black fur.

"Hey boys," she greeted them both, laughing at them running around her legs. Wanting attention. She gave them a little love, and then pushed the front door back open. "Go outside." She ushered them out to go and use the bathroom. Laughing when she heard them start barking at something outside, she shook her head, and continued into her apartment. Leaving the front door open for when they would come back.

Dropping her bag on one of the bar stools on the opposite side of the kitchen cabinets. The kitchen was mainly open to the living room. The sound of a meow was heard at her feet, and then her third furbaby jumped up onto the countertop. Only on the corner of the one countertop she didn't use. There was a little cat bed that was meant as a high place for the cat to get away from the dogs. "Hey Baby," she greeted her cat by it's name. It was a light grey/darker grey tabby cat. She gave Baby a little love like she had given the dogs.

Walking around the countertop to the small space in-between the refrigerator and the wall that led to the hall her bedroom was on. There were two containers there. She got a scoop full of cat food, she poured it into one of the small bowls by the counter that Baby was on. And doing that made the cat jump off to eat some food. Closing the first container, she opened the second. Starting to scoop dog food into the dogs bowls that was across the kitchen from the cat's bowl. She just finished up when Shadow and Tank came back inside. They moved right away to go to their food bowls. Which had her smiling. Going to close the front door, she locked it.

However, that's when she heard a knock on her door. Raising an eyebrow, she unlocked the door again, and opened it. Smiling at the sight on the other side. "Thank god you are here. We have a lot to talk about over dinner."

Shikamaru's POV

Walking out of his bathroom, Shikamaru finished towel drying his hair, and tossed the towel to the dirty clothes hamper. Ready to get bed, he turned off the light, and settled down on his bed. Laying back, he moved both arms back behind his head. Staring up at the ceiling, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dark room. It's been a long day. I'm exhausted, and I don't even want to think about tomorrow. After avoiding my parents all day, I didn't realize just how tiring that would be. My team of course chose today to not have a training, so that led me to having to take extra measures to avoid my parents.

His eyes caught onto the ceiling fan that circled around, and it got him thinking to how he managed to avoid his parents for most of the day. His efforts to avoid led him into Konoha's forest, going to one of his favorite spots that wasn't known to anyone. Well aside from Sakura I guess. His thoughts shifted over to the pink haired girl, to his surprise, the thought brought a smile to his face. He hurriedly relaxed his expression. She talked a lot, but I didn't mind as much as I usually would. Then when she wasn't talking, it wasn't awkward silence; it was peaceful. I even encouraged conversation with her, something I never do.

That thought had him thinking back to why he had been avoiding his parents all day. Mom talked about it all through dinner, and from what she was saying, I can already tell this is going to be miserable. These next two months are going to be hell that's for sure… He trailed off, once again the thought of his run in with Sakura today crossing his mind. When he started to smile again, he turned over, and pressed his face into his pillows. Maybe it won't be so bad after all.

The next day, Sunday

Waking up to her alarm blaring in her ears, Sakura reached over, and slammed her hand down on the off button. Lifting her head up from where it was snuggled against her pillows, she yawned. The room was still dim as it was only five in the morning. Meaning it wasn't quite time for the sun to rise. Her eyes flickered around herself. Baby was curled up towards the top of the pillows on her bed, Tank was stretched out behind her on the bed, and Shadow was in front of her. Her arm lightly wrapped over him, as he liked to be cuddled when they slept.

Sakura's movement had Shadow lifting his head up from the bed, and his tail started thumping against the bed. He stuck his face closer to hers, and licked her face.

"Alright love, let's get moving. I can't get up with how you and your brother are sitting on top of the covers," Sakura laughed, as both her dogs didn't move. Shadow was still thumping his tail, and Tank had adjusted to where he could stick his face in hers as well. "Boys, let's get moving!" She called out through laughter to get them to actually get up this time. Shadow off the bed, and Tank practically jumped a good five feet in the air to get off the bed. Already rushing out the door of her bedroom.

After going to let the dogs out, she came back into her bedroom, and then went into the bathroom. The thought of training that morning had her already dreading it. Now that everyone in their age group apart from Naruto was either Chunin or Jounin, they had upped the training for everyone. So it was more sparring than anything now. Occasionally it would be to learn new techniques, but at this point everyone was qualified enough to take on new jutsu on their own.

Since they were sparring more, the sensei's had this thing that about two to three times a week, they would get all four of the teams together to be able to have a more variety in sparring. Today was one of those days. Which just meant a much longer training session, and more annoyance in having to deal with her team which consisted of some of the most stubbornly, competitive, annoying ninja out of them all. So they'd probably end up getting in trouble, and get a punishment like they usually did on these days.

Finishing up in the bathroom, she left to go to the kitchen. Grabbing a bowl from the cabinet, her thoughts on cereal. Even though I don't do anything except try to stop my teammates, I end up in trouble too. And- Her thought was interrupted when she faintly heard her dogs barking. Shortly followed by the yelling of an elderly woman who lived two floors below her on the ground floor. "Damn it," she cursed, leaving her bowl of cereal on the cabinet, she crossed her apartment, and stepped just outside her door. "Shadow, Tank, come!"

An hour later

Glancing at the village around her, the progress that had been made over the past few months had Sakura smiling ear to ear. The village was looking fairly back to normal. Considering what it looked like after Pein's attack on the village, this place looks amazing now. Tsunade had friends from the Land of Earth helping them level out the ground the village was on to the ground outside the village walls. Everything feels so peaceful now-

"Come on! I'm so much better than you are!"

The sound of Naruto's loud exclamation hit Sakura's ears, and set a frown across her face. So much for peaceful. Getting closer to where she was supposed to meet her team, the sound of Naruto arguing with Sai continued to grow. With her good mood ruined and her patience with their arguing growing thin, she walked right in-between the two, and stopped between them. This caused both Naruto and Sai to stop arguing with each other, and it grew dead silent.

The sound of Sai grunting in pain, and Naruto yelling out more dramatically was the next thing heard. "Sakura, what was that for?!" Naruto continued in his groaning and yelling in pain. Kneeling on the ground, and holding his head. Right where she had delivered a harsh punch.

Sakura ignored Naruto's words, and turned on Sai, who was in a similar position as Naruto. "Stop antagonizing him!"

Naruto laughed at the sound of her getting onto Sai, and started to stand up. "That's right-"

"And you!" Sakura exclaimed, interrupting him, as she turned on her heel to face Naruto. Right away noticing his expression full of fear, as he shrunk back. "Stop letting him get to you! You retaliate like a four year old! Grow up!"

After Sakura's exclamation, nothing was said from either Naruto or Sai. The silence had Sakura smiling again. "Finally. Some peace and quiet."

"Thanks for that," Sai surprisingly started up bravely first. "I was about to kill him if he wouldn't stop."

"Like you ever could-" Naruto stopped in replying back to Sai at the glare Sakura sent his way. A light bulb seemed to suddenly go off in his mind with a new thought. "You disappeared yesterday."

"Yeah," Sai agreed with Naruto, relaxing back against the railing on the bridge. His eyes focused on their pink haired teammate. "Why did you ignore our questions about what happened on the mission?"

With yesterday being brought up so soon this morning, Sakura groaned inwardly. Having hoped they would have let this go. "I don't know what you guys are talking about. Nothing happened yesterday," Sakura deadpanned, her eyes narrowing at her teammates.

"No, you have to remember. On the mission? When we got attacked?" Naruto offered to her, as he clearly didn't understand that Sakura was hinting at them to drop it.

Sai did understand that she wanted them to let it go, but he wasn't really planning on listening. "What do you know? You can't really withhold information. They attacked all of us, so I think we deserve to know."

"Yeah, Sai has a point for once," Naruto agreed nodding his head once, and crossing his arms.

"What do you mean by 'for once'?" Sai asked him, a glare in Naruto's direction.

To Sakura's slight relief, that seemed to start her teammates back into arguing with each other, instead of continuing to question her. Bowing her head, she sighed heavily. I'm thankful that they aren't questioning me, but this arguing is so damn annoying!

Twenty minutes later, Kakashi and Yamato finally showed up. Just in time to hear the sounds of their team fighting once again. When they got closer, they got to see what the commotion was about. Finding that both Sai and Naruto had received hits from Sakura, and the pink haired female of the team had just tackled Naruto to the ground to punch him.

Sakura only got in one good punch on Naruto before she was pulled back by Kakashi and Yamato. Kakashi speaking first. "Let's cool down."

"What happened?" Yamato asked after Sakura yanked her arms away from Kakashi and himself.

"Those morons won't leave me alone!" Sakura exclaimed in annoyance. "That is what happened!"

When Kakashi and Yamato's eyes went to the other two. Sai spoke up first. "That's only because she is hiding something."

"About the mission yesterday," Naruto further elaborated. "When we got attacked. She knows something and isn't telling us. It's only fair she tells us-"

"If you two don't let that go, I will personally send you to your graves!" Sakura yelled interrupting Naruto, her eyes full of fire.

"Alright, that is enough," Yamato said, stepping in front of Sakura before she could lunge at the guys again.

"You two need to leave her alone," Kakashi added, his eyes on the guys. Having not really planned to have to deal with fighting between them this morning. "Is that understood?"

Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but at Sakura clearing her throat and glaring at him, he closed his mouth again. Leaving no response from Naruto or Sai. Although both Kakashi and Yamato knew that they wouldn't bother Sakura for the fear of her hitting them again.

"Wow," Ino's voice was heard, breaking the silent air that had been created. The sound of voices from her team, along with Team Eight and Team Gai had Team Seven looking over. Ino propped her hands on her hips, and smirked at the sight of Team Seven. "I'm surprised to see that Team Seven isn't making a sound."

"Well, you missed it by a good minute or two," Kakashi said next, rubbing the back of his head. Knowing he should be embarrassed by how everyone else in the village looked at Team Seven as the most noisy and rowdy team, but it just seemed normal to him now.

Yamato nodded in agreement with Kakashi. "This is mostly due to how our male members are being threatened to silence."

While Yamato didn't say any names, all eyes seemed to go to Sakura anyways. Which had her rolling her own eyes, and shaking her head. "They were asking for it," she angrily explained to the others. Turning on her heel, she had to hold back a smirk at how her teammates noticeably took a few steps away from her when she passed them. She walked off the bridge and into the training ground area. Moving to a tree to go set her stuff down.

"Should I ask how your morning is going?"

The sound of Hinata's question had Sakura's eye twitching. "Before or after I almost killed my teammates for not leaving me alone about what happened yesterday?"

Sakura's question had Hinata laughing as she set her bag down alongside Sakura's. "Well, you keeping it from them is the reason for their questions."

"Yeah, but you know why I am keeping it from them," Sakura reminded Hinata. Irritably shuffling through her bag to find her headband as she had forgotten to put it on before she left her apartment that morning. "I'm-"

"Trying to protect them," Hinata finished for her, as she knew exactly why Sakura was holding back "I know. I'm just saying to remember that before you start beating them to pulps for questioning you."

Finishing the tie under her hair, Sakura straightened her headband on the top of her head, then crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't have come by my apartment last night."

"Was it really me that helped you? Or was it the bottle of wine I brought?" Hinata asked, raising an eyebrow, a smile on her face.

Grinning at the sight of Hinata's raised eyebrow, Sakura smirked. "Both, of course."

"By the way, you sleep through everything," Hinata said to change the subject. "I woke up around two in the morning, then got up to leave. Because I wanted to go home and change into actual pajamas, and sleep in my own bed. When I was leaving, I tripped over Baby, and you didn't wake up at all."

"That's not surprising that I didn't wake up. After the long day I had, I was certainly exhausted enough to sleep so deeply," Sakura replied, sighing as she couldn't help herself from talking about what happened yesterday. "But, seriously though. It was much needed after the day of the stupid mission, then hiding out from my team."

"What did you do after you went running?" Hinata asked, noticing Sakura wasn't exactly taking the change in subject, and had circled back to talking about yesterday's events. "You never got to that part because we fell asleep."

That had Sakura's eyes traveling to the others. The teams were all mingling together. Her eyes searched through them, person to person, until they landed on a certain black haired ninja. His pulled up spiky hair being the first thing she found. His back was facing her. Her eyes flickered back to Hinata. "I actually ran into Shikamaru."

That had Hinata raising her eyebrow again. "Really now?" After Sakura's explanation as to what happened during her run in with Shikamaru, Hinata shook her head. "I always pictured him to be the type to not really care to be involved in anyone's business. It's kind of strange that he was so talkative with you."

"Tell me about it," Sakura agreed, but shrugged her shoulders at the thought. "It's not a big deal. He was probably in a good mood or something."

"That," Hinata said, a growing smirk on her own face. "Or he wanted to hear about one of your crazy ass adventures first hand instead of what gets told by Ino."

That had both of them cracking up laughing. Although the sound of the sensei's calling everyone together had them slowing their laughter down. Walking over to join the others to start listening to the sensei's addressing how they would start sparring that morning.

Sakura started to drown out what the sensei's were saying, as it was the same thing every time they said every time the four teams would get together to spar. Her eyes flickered around the others, and smirked when she noticed that she wasn't the only one who wasn't paying attention. Continuing her glancing around the others, she found herself stopping on Shikamaru, as she found he was looking in her direction. Making eye contact with him.

Shikamaru kept Sakura's gaze. Rolling his eyes at the sensei's repetitive talking of rules they were supposed to follow. When his eyes met Sakura's again, he smirked at the sight of a smile appearing on her face. Watching as she looked away from him, and shook her head.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who is bored out of their mind. Sakura thought, her eyes continuing their sweep around. Finally landing on her two teammates. To find they were staring at her. After more of their staring, it started to lead to her annoyance. A vein throbbed in her forehead at their shameless staring. Finally having enough of it, she started to raise her hands to prop them on her hips.

The sight of Sakura propping her hands on her hips, seemed to spark a reaction from her teammates almost immediately. Sai was quick with taking steps back. Naruto, however, had a much more dramatic reaction.

"Stop doing that!" Naruto exclaimed, completely interrupting the sensei's from speaking. He had taken many more dramatic steps backwards, and flailed his arms all around. Leading to ending up falling backwards on the ground.

"What is going on over there?" Kakashi asked, as everyone's attention had gone to Team Seven. They were standing farther towards the back of the group.

"Tell Sakura to stop doing that!" Naruto exclaimed, sitting up on the ground, as he pointed to Sakura.

Sakura, who had remained standing with her hands on her hips, just glared at Naruto. "I'm not doing anything, you idiot!"

"No, you are standing like that!" Naruto exclaimed back to her, still pointing at her. "Why are you doing that?"

"Why are you two incapable of leaving me alone?!" Sakura shot back towards her two teammates. She grew visibly more irritated, as she crossed her arms.

This seemed to make Sai step back further, and Naruto to scramble up from the ground. Sai spoke first. "I'm not involved in this."

"Yes you are!" Sakura exclaimed back at Sai. "You two won't stop staring at me!"

"Okay, you three need to cool it," Yamato spoke before Naruto or Sai could respond.

Kakashi sighed as it had to be his team that was causing interruptions. "What part of leave Sakura alone was not clear?"

"I didn't do anything!" Sai exclaimed to point out.

Naruto shook his head, his eyes on Sakura. "Is it a crime to look at someone-"

"When you are looking at me it is!" Sakura interrupted him, fire in her eyes. "I told you two to let it go, and you won't do that!"

"Because," Naruto started, holding one hand out as if that was shielding him from Sakura's wrath. "We are just concerned about you hiding-"

"For goodness sake I said let it go!" Sakura straight up yelled back at Naruto. "If I wanted you idiots to know, I would have told you!"

"Don't call me an idiot," Sai's eyes narrowed, irritated with Sakura pulling him into this.

"Sakura," Naruto started, shaking his head at her. "You are not being fair- no wait!"

Sakura taking off in Naruto's direction had him stopping his words. Hitting Sai harshly as she passed him, she moved straight to Naruto. Yelling out as she tackled him to the ground. The rolled around for a moment before ending with her on top of his back. Her legs around his neck, and her hands holding one of his arms back behind him. "Will you just leave me alone?!"

"Dear god," Kurenai said, watching them fight, and Sakura clearly not holding back at all.

"This escalated quickly," Kiba added, the others nodding in agreement.

That's when Yamato and Kakashi had to move over to break the two apart. Which took a lot more effort this time than it did earlier that morning. They finally got around to splitting the two up, but not before Sakura got a good hit to Naruto's abdomen. Leading to him bending over and coughing.

"That's enough!" Yamato exclaimed at Sakura still attempting to lunge at Naruto.

"What in the hell did you do that for?!" Naruto exclaimed at Sakura through his coughing. "I ought to-"

"Cool it," Yamato interrupted Naruto, sighing at how both Sakura and Naruto were glaring at each other.

Kakashi shook his head at them. "You three need to take a few laps around the village. This is ridiculous."

"That's not fair," Sai replied to Kakashi first. "I'm not even involved-"

"If you do not shut up, I will come after you next," Sakura interrupted Sai, glaring at him.

Sakura's threat had finally led to silence in the training ground. Kakashi cleared his throat after a moment. "Take ten laps around the village. Once your done, you can come back."

Tearing her arms from Yamato, Sakura just straightened out her headband a little, a scowl on her face.

"Behave," Yamato added, cautiously letting Naruto go, but was talking to all three of them.

"Fine," Sakura said, walking past her teammates, she paused. "As long as these idiots keep their distance from me, we shouldn't have a problem."

That had Naruto and Sai starting off in a completely different direction than Sakura. Not wanting to test her anymore at the moment.

It was quiet as the three left the training ground. The others teams were a mixture of humor, annoyance, and not really caring for Team 7's squabbles. Shikamaru had been watching them interact closely, and thought of what Sakura said yesterday. She wasn't kidding when she said that her team was persistent. She certainly looks to be getting tired of dealing with their questions that's for sure.

A few hours later

Team Seven had rejoined the others after an a little over forty five minutes of running their laps all the way around the village. Once back, it was noted that Team Seven was being kept separated. Which Sakura certainly wasn't complaining about. Having just finished up a spar with Tenten, as well as receiving a lecture from their sensei's on destroying half the training ground, she turned to high five Tenten.

"We always do such a good job of destroying the training grounds," Tenten boasted, happily high fiving Sakura back.

Sakura nodded in agreement with Tenten. "I know. Next time we need to aim to knock down all the trees."

"No!" That was a chorus of the sensei's who had been watching the match. That had the others laughing.

The sound of a bird's call was heard, and brought attention to a hawk flying down towards them. It landed on Kakashi's shoulder. He pulled the message from it, and read it over. "Tsunade needs to speak with Shikamaru," he said, then read the remainder of the scroll. "As well as Sakura."

"Why?" Naruto asked almost immediately.

"I don't know why Naruto, but I don't believe that's any of our business," Kakashi replied, trying to point out to Naruto that he was being nosy, but knew that Naruto wouldn't understand that.

Sakura, slightly confused, turned to go grab her bag. "Anything to get away from my idiot teammates."

"Hey!" Was the chorus from Sai and Naruto.

"You don't seem that surprised," Ino said, having watched Shikamaru's neutral expression, as he grabbed his bag.

Shrugging, Shikamaru looked up at the sky. "It's not that unusual to be called to speak to the Hokage," he replied back, waiting for Sakura to finish collecting her stuff, before they started in the direction of the Hokage's office.

It was quiet between the two as they walked. Sakura was focusing on taking her gloves off, and slipping them in her bag. It wasn't until after she did that, the silence became more noticeable to her. Her eyes slipped to her side to focus on Shikamaru. "You don't seem all that curious as to why Tsunade would summon us both."

"It's because I'm not," Shikamaru replied, his hands in his pockets, and his eyes remained up on the sky. "I know why we are being summoned." This being said, had him looking away from the sky, to focus on Sakura. "I'm sure you have heard of the Nara clan's annual party, and that it's coming up in a couple months."

Sakura nodded slowly, as she had heard of it before. "I know some about it. Ever since Tsunade became Hokage, she has to attend every year. She always gave me the lovely job of keeping track of all the missions, and the documents that she regularly had to look at during the time the party would take place." This had a smile start on Sakura's face. "Tsunade would be in and out of the office. Usually when she was in she wouldn't do any work. And I might add, that week is typically the week that the most stuff gets done, because I'm actually doing all of her work for her."

Shikamaru smirked at her words for a moment, before growing back to a slightly more serious expression. Reaching a hand up to rub the back of his neck, his eyes went back to her. "I wanted to ask you something."

Back to the training grounds

"Shikamaru's probably getting called for something about the Nara party," Ino said, as they had all moved to take a break after Shikamaru and Sakura left.

"What Nara party?" Kiba asked.

"It's a party his clan throws every year," Ino replied, her arms crossed over her chest. "Even though it's a couple months from now, he is supposed to start working on it soon."

Tenten had a raised eyebrow. "Well, why would Sakura get called too?"

"It's probably unrelated," Hinata offered with a shrug of her shoulders. "Tsunade could just need her for something."

"I'm surprised we haven't been told to get started on helping out yet," Choji spoke up, getting the others to look over at him. "After the party, there is this week long festival that we're most likely going to have to help get stuff for. Which isn't really that big of a deal. At least we aren't in Shikamaru's shoes. He's probably stressed out."

"Why would he be stressed out?" Hinata asked curiously. Could that be what he was avoiding yesterday? I know Sakura made it seem that he wasn't hanging around the hill just for the hell of it.

Surprisingly Asuma cleared his throat to enter the conversation of the younger ninja. "Shikamaru is actually having to participate in the whole party this year."

That had Naruto laughing. "Shikamaru doesn't do work. He'll probably just avoid it all."

"Shikamaru can't avoid it this time," Choji said, shaking his head.

"Why not?" Sai asked rather dismissively. "Nothing has stopped him from avoiding something he doesn't want to do in the past."

"This party has been tradition for the Nara Clan to throw for about seventy years now," Kakashi jumped in the conversation to explain. "Since Shikamaru's family is head of the clan, it's tradition they be in charge. It's a big deal for the village, as this is a time where a lot of important people from all over the nation are going to be in the village all it once."

"How come we have never heard of this before?" Naruto asked.

"We haven't been old enough to really attend before this year," Ino replied, seeing Naruto didn't understand still, she continued. "They don't just let everyone go. Because while it is a party, it is a whole lot of business for the Leaf Village. Since we are all around seventeen and eighteen years old, we're allowed to actually go this year. Only clan members are allowed to attend before reaching the age of seventeen."

"This will be a week long event," Asuma continued from where Ino left off. "The first day is the party hosted by the Nara's. The next five days are festival days. Then the seventh day is the ball they hold."

"Ball?" Naruto questioned.

"It's a formal type of dance," Hinata explained to him, feeling her cheeks growing warm just by directly looking him in the eye.

Not noticing Hinata's red cheeks, Naruto nodded. "Oh, I got it."

"As for why Shikamaru can't avoid it now is because he's finally of age," Choji started back to answer Sai's question of why. "Now that he is seventeen, he's going to have a more adult type of role in the party. He's responsible for a lot more."

"So what has he been doing at the party before this year?" Hinata asked.

"Just attending as a Nara clan member. He'd only show up for whenever he had to do something with his family like the dinner on the first day. Then he would skip out on everything else, like the socializing parts. And usually the festival and definitely the ball too." Choji replied, shrugging his shoulders then. "This year he can't skip out because he has to do all of that."

"Alright," Kakashi spoke up before more could be said. "It's time to get back to sparring-"

"Hell yeah, let's do it!" Naruto's loud exclamation interrupted Kakashi, as he jumped up. Ready to go.

Sakura and Shikamaru's POV

Unable to help herself, Sakura found herself raising an eyebrow at all Shikamaru just told her. "So, let me get this straight," she started slowly, her arms crossed over her chest, and her eyes remaining on him as they continued their walk to the Hokage tower. "Since you are now having no choice but to participate in this party, your parents are requiring you to start working to prepare for it now, two months in advance?"

"Pretty much," Shikamaru confirmed, followed with a long sigh. "They have been discussing it for the past week. Mostly about what kind of stuff they want me to be doing, which I might add is a hell of a lot more than what should be considered fair. As they aren't having to do nearly as much from what I have been observing."

They had reached the bottom of the Hokage tower, and Sakura leaned over to grab Shikamaru's wrist. Stopping him, so she could continue speaking. "And on top of that, since you are seventeen, you are considered as more of an adult. Because of that, your parents want you to bring someone with you to the party. As in a date?"

Nodding his head, Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck. The thought of it all was annoying and troublesome. "They said it'll look better for the clan if-and I quote-I look like I have my life together. Because apparently it's not together now."

"And for some reason you chose to ask me…?" Sakura asked slowly.

Shikamaru once again nodded. His eyes meeting hers. "Yeah, I did."

That had them falling into silence, Sakura trying to fully process what exactly he was asking of her to do. "I just would think you'd ask someone like Ino to do it. You hang out with her more."

"There are two things wrong with that statement. One, Ino and I are teammates, but I don't exactly hang out with her on the level of friendship you are implying. Two, I don't know about you, but the idea of putting Ino anywhere near this strikes me with fear for my sanity. She would get way too excited and involved in all this stuff, and I'd be getting dragged all over the damn nation," Shikamaru replied, noticing that didn't get rid of the hesitating look in Sakura's eye. "Look, I'm already in a tight spot. My mom is running around trying to get everything started, and my dad supports whatever she says. In order to get my mom to stop screaming at me for not valuing my clan name, I'm starting on some of things she wanted me to do. If you don't want to do it-"

"No it's fine," Sakura interrupted him, finally shaking herself out of her thoughts. She let go of his arm, turned towards the stairs, and started up them. "I don't mind helping you out. I think it'll be fun."

Shikamaru watched her for a moment before following. "What exactly is your definition of fun?"

"I like the idea of going to a party," Sakura replied, laughing lightly. "Just because you are going to have to be stuck with me for the week long party, I don't think it's going to be that bad."

"That's the thing," Shikamaru said, sighing heavily once again. "The planning and stuff we have to do for this party is going to be a lot to do over the next two months. So it's more like you are signing up for a little over two months of being involved with this." After he said that it was silent in-between them as they continued up the stairs. He watched her from behind trying to figure out why she was being quiet. When they reached the top of the stairs, Shikamaru stopped her. "If you want to back out. Now would be the time."

"I don't know," Sakura started, sighing dramatically, as she turned to face him. Surprisingly holding a smile on her face. "If I should be offended that you only asked me because you had to or not. I thought we were becoming friends after yesterday." Her tone showed she was clearly teasing. Turning back to open the door, she laughed, and started down the hall to the Hokage's office.

Shikamaru, remaining frozen to the spot, watched as she walked down the hall. Hearing her laughter, he found himself even more surprised how she didn't seem the slightest bit bothered at how big of a deal this would end up being. Finally, shaking his head, he moved through the doorway to start down the hall after her. A smile growing on his face.

Shikamaru's POV, later that evening

"I invited someone to come help with all this."

That was the first thing Shikamaru told his parents after they had started to finish up dinner. Which seemed to roll right over his dad's head, but his mom grew a scowl on her face. "Shikamaru, you can't invite your friends to come and do your work for you."

When his wife settled her eyes on him, Shikaku sighed, and nodded in agreement with his wife. "Do what she says Shikamaru."

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes at his dad's clear lack of interest in the conversation, Shikamaru shook his head. He's just agreeing with her for no reason apart from the fact that she's his wife. "I'm not inviting my friends to come and do the work for me mom."

Placing her silverware down on her empty plate, Yoshino shook her head at her son. "Shikamaru, you just said-"

"I said I invited someone, not the whole damn village," Shikamaru interrupted, clear annoyance in his tone.

"Do not use that language, and certainly not when you are speaking to me," was his mom's sharp reply.

"Sorry," Shikamaru apologized followed with a sigh at how troublesome this conversation was turning out to be. Although, it's not that unexpected. "I invited one person, not everyone. And you said I had to."

"I said no such thing," his mom replied, shaking her head at her son. "I only said that along with your responsibilities this year, you are to bring a date with you to the party. Not one of your friends to come and hangout with you. There is a big difference."

"I'm aware," Shikamaru said, taking a breath at how his mom was making this a much bigger deal than it needed to be. "That's what I'm saying. I invited this girl to come to the party with me, as my-"

Shikamaru was interrupted by his father choking on his water he had been drinking, leading to rough coughing come from him.

His mother's eyes were wide, as she was clearly taken aback by what had just come out of her son's mouth. "You invited someone-a girl-to go with you to the party… to be your date?"

Nodding back at his mom's question, Shikamaru tried his hardest to ignore his dad's reaction. "You told me I needed to start working on stuff for the party."

Shikamaru's mom was quiet at that, still looking taken aback. Shikamaru's dad spoke up after his coughing died down. "I think your mom is just a little surprised that you started working on this stuff on your own."

Seeing both his parents still looking at him strangely, Shikamaru sighed once again. "She's a friend of mine… I guess. Out of all the girls I know, I can tolerate her for more than five minutes. And I thought at least this way, I won't be miserable having to put up with someone I can't stand for the next two months."

Finally Shikamaru's mom spoke up after a moment of silence. "Okay, well when do we get to meet her? I don't just want you choosing some random girl and throwing her into this."

"You said to start working early tomorrow, so I'm going to go pick her up tomorrow morning to come over and get started," Shikamaru replied without hesitation, noticing that his answer put them in silence again.

His dad cleared his throat after another awkward moment of silence passed. "Do you like this girl-"

"Dad," Shikamaru interrupted, already able to tell what his dad was suggesting. "It's not like that."

"Son, it's not like you to go and find company with any female on this planet," was what his dad immediately replied with. "So that being the first thing you choose to do, is a tad bit strange, and concerning-"

"Dad!" Shikamaru interrupted again, clearly growing annoyed now. "Just because I did that first doesn't mean anything. And I do talk to girls… Sometimes… Okay, not usually, but mostly because I find them to be highly annoying and intolerable." Sighing for nearly the twentieth time since sitting down for dinner that night, he continued. "We are just friends. I don't even know if it's acceptable to call her that. As we've never actually hung out before, aside from yesterday. Sure we've known each other since before the academy, but she's always been around her teammates more. You know, Sai and Naruto-"

"Oh, it's that girl!" Shikamaru's mom interrupted a big smile on her face now. "I know her, she's the Hokage's apprentice, right? She's real pretty."

"Mom," Shikamaru said, deciding he's had enough of this, he grabbed his empty dishes from dinner, and stood up. "Get this out of your system now you two. Don't embarrass me tomorrow by trying to make this something that it isn't."

That had his mom and dad laughing. "Don't get so worked up Shikamaru," his mom told him, her tone slightly teasing.

Shikamaru left the dining room, and went to put his dishes in the sink. When he set them down, his eyes went up to the ceiling. His thoughts on Sakura, and he found his cheeks get warm at the thought of his parents suggesting he and Sakura were anything more than friends. I need to stop that right there. We've only had an actual conversation yesterday. One time. Not really anything to classify us as… what my parents are suggesting. Let alone friends. Feeling his cheeks still warming up at the thought of his parents suggestions, he found himself growing irritated with how this hadn't gone at all as smoothly as he had wanted it to. This is going to be a long two months.

Sakura's POV

Sakura was stuck. She was currently sitting at the end of her bed. Tank was laying halfway in her lap, a tennis ball in his mouth. Shadow was directly behind her, laying on his back with his paws up in the air. Having given up on trying to get up, she had started to pet them, and think about the day's events. Her petting eventually slowed as she had the thought of what she had just signed up for so willingly. This is two months of my life that I just signed away. Meaning less training, less missions, less working at the hospital, and less seeing my furbabies.

That last thought had her eyeing Tank, Shadow, and then Baby who was curled up on top of her pillows at the head of the bed. Frowning, she started to maneuver around Tank to get up from the bed. At her trying to get up, both her dogs ears went up, and their focus went to her. Shadow rolling over so he was on his stomach now. "Relax you two. I'm taking a shower. You can handle being alone for a little while," she told them, turning away to walk into her bathroom. Turning on the water, she stripped down, and got inside the shower. Closing the glass door, and stepping under the hot stream of water.

She wasn't quite sure how long she was in the shower, but it certainly did the trick of getting rid of her thoughts. When she finally got out, she dressed in black shorts, and a grey quarter sleeved top that left part of her midriff visible if she lifted her arms up at all. The second she finished changing, both Shadow and Tank were up and trotting out of her room. She left with them, and moved to let them outside one last time for the night.

Standing out on the landing in front of her apartment door, she rested her arms on the railing, and she looked up at the night sky. There weren't any clouds in the sky, so the stars were completely visible. Maybe it won't be so bad having something to do for the next two months after all. It'll be different, but maybe the change in pace will be good for me. Once Shadow and Tank finally came back up the stairs to the floor she was on, they went inside, and she followed them. Locking the door behind her, she turned the lights off as she walked back to her room.

Climbing in bed, she just turned the light off as the dogs jumped on the bed. Settling down like they usually did. Tank spread out on the bed to her right, and Shadow more comfortably closer to Sakura on her left. Remaining on her back, she stared up at the ceiling. I'm forgetting something… Oh well, it's probably not that important anyways. Turning on her left side, facing the wall her door was on. She wrapped her arm around Shadow like she usually did, and she felt Tank adjust so he was closer to her back. Closing her eyes, she felt movement up towards the top of her pillows where Baby was adjusting. Everything's like it usually is. I just can't help but feel like I am forgetting something…

A/N: So here it is! The first chapter of my new story. It is Shika/Saku, and I'm not planning to change that. This is not a typical pairing, but I like the dynamic of two of Konoha's smartest ninja in a romance. If this is not your cup of tea, give it a try anyways. If you still don't like it after a few chapters, you don't have to read it. Thanks to all who decide to give this a try.

My favorite part to write was between Sakura fighting with her teammates at the training grounds, and Shikamaru explaining to his parents he invited Sakura to help out. What was your favorite scene?

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