Last one until january 26th '18. Enjoy, feel free to review.

"A woman? Are you being serious? And what's your name again?"

She stood baffled at the words she just heard coming out of her new team captain for the mission she had been assigned to and could instantly feel the heat creep its way up to her cheeks. It was her twenty-first birthday, one of the few times she was allowed to turn down a mission from the Hokage. Staring at him, upset to the Gods, the young woman couldn't figure out whether or not he even deserved an answer to his last question. Suddenly, her feeling of shame and distress was substituted for rough anger and disgust.

"Captain Nara… Can we please simply get going instead of shaming me for the difference between our private parts? You don't value me as a warrior. 'Woman' will do."

"Hey…"

Her eyes averted to the large man she recognized as being the fifteenth Akimichi leader, only to glare at him and follow the steady pace of the Captain, projecting the way she felt on the innocent man. In between two branches, he smoothly approached her and joined her on the next set of trees, trying to make her more at ease.

"I'm Chôza Akimichi. Nice to meet you. I'm sure you and the captain will get along over time. What's your name?"

She felt guilty. At the moment she wanted utter her name, they both dropped to ground at the sight of their captain's hand sign. The man named Chôza smiled at her and sped to the team captain for a strategy review while she quickly followed. While listening to captain Nara talking, she suddenly felt excluded from the group again, more than she did before. The man was smart. He could easily become the Hokage's counselor if he applied for it. He knew his teammates' strengths and weaknesses by heart and played his cards wisely. When the short meeting was over, she realized she hadn't been told a single thing. She almost felt tears itching the corner of her eyes, but courageously blinked them away. Didn't she mean a single thing to the team at all? She was a medical aid, wasn't she important? When was she supposed to join the battle? Which role did she play in this particular mission? Before she could even end her whirlwind of questions, the team had left her behind. Even Chôza. Standing there alone, she brushed away a tear and raced to their chase.

…

"Shikaku. You really should go and apologize to her. At least ask for her name. If it wasn't for her, you would've lost half of your sight."

The team captain stared at his two teammates, sitting around his hospital bed while he recovered from eye surgery. His optic nerve on the right side of his face had suffered some considerable damage. The mission hadn't turned into what he expected at all. They failed miserably. All Shikaku could remember after the first blow to his face was seeing his comrades crashing beside him. When he woke up to the sensation of warm healing chakra on his face, his surprise couldn't have been greater than seeing the woman he hadn't paid any attention to during their time on the road, surrounded by the corpses of the seventeen rebels they'd been attacked by moments earlier. It looked like a war zone. He could hear her voice over and over again, pleading him to keep his eyes closed and to continue talking to her, reprimanding him for his carelessness, that his teammates were alright and that she was going to take care of them and make sure they'd get home safely. Snapping out of his thoughts, he stared at the view from his room and proceeded to lay back down.

"What a drag… Not that she doesn't deserve an apology, indeed."

…

It'd been over week since Shikaku had gotten discharged from the hospital. He was pretty certain he looked like a creep. A thirty-one year old man with fresh, pink scars on his face, waiting for a lady in her early twenties to open her door to him. He discreetly and tactfully followed her around for the last five days and noticed a stamina. Every single day she went for a thirty kilometer run around the village before sunrise. She didn't seem to have many friends, or any family at all. All she did was train, exercise and train some more, until she got back home and left at five in the evening to buy fresh food to make herself dinner and lunch for the next day. Today, he decided he would get her a small gift. It wasn't much…

"Captain Nara?"

There wasn't a hint of resentment in her voice, which reassured him. He could see her eyes looking down to the bag of takeaway food he was carrying. She blushed and clutched her floral yakuta, realizing how vulnerable she probably looked, as Shikaku enjoyed the view of how feminine she appeared with the short robe on, her hair down and standing there on her bare feet. Unsurprisingly, she jumped to her own defense, compensating for her position, suddenly more aggressive rather than passive.

"Exactly what makes you think I'd need anything from you?"

"Please let me in."

…

The man was smooth, seeing how a humble smile gave him access to her appartment. It was awkward. They were sitting next to one another, eating cherries on her living room floor and enjoying the view her balcony had to offer from the sixth storey of the building. She hadn't been able to take notice of the time flying before she realized he'd been there for an hour or two. "Thank you for being of such a great help during our mission. And sorry for not aknowledging you. I'm Shikaku." was the first set of phrases he told her after she closed the door on them, as she remembered to tighten the knot on her robe and grab a pair of shorts. And she was hungry at that particular moment anyway. Tomorrow's lunch was in the fridge and the boxes of fried rice and pork laid empty in a corner of the room, near the kitchen. The talk they had was comfortable and entertaining. Debates on the position of men and women in society, mission experiences and strategies sparked hours of fiery discussions. She appreciated him being here, being the first one to hold her company since she moved into town half a year ago. As silence settled again, she gave a ninth thought at her mission since he knocked at her door. He'd treated her like dirt. Was he doing this out of pity?

"What are you thinking about, Yoshino?"

"Nothing that should matter to you. I'm not one to hold grudges."

It was quiet. Uneasy. She foolishly tried to distract herself with the thought that the owners of the food market around the corner might get worried if she didn't show up this evening, only to realise they probably didn't care as much as she thought they did. She shifted away from him and stretched a leg in his direction while resting her back on the wall behind her, now facing the two swollen scars on his face. His behavior on their first collaboration was bothering her.

"Why did you have that inconsiderate attitude towards me during the mission? And why are you doing all of this?"

His loud sigh filled the room and the sound of the last drops of a small bottle of sake being poured into a glass and shoved in her direction preceeded a serious look on his face as he too extended his legs, towards the balcony. His gaze fixed itself on the dark sky, as if expecting a hint on how to answer that question in return for his admiration.

"I treated you like an ennemy because I sensed your commanding nature. And... I'm doing all of this because this is my way of handling intimidating women."

...

"Shikaku… "

"I know."

So gracious, sweet and beautiful. Looks like I've been missing out. Both of them had no idea how the Nara's apologies suddenly turned into kissing instead of them ordinarily having dinner together. It was almost midnight. As his tongue gently slipped passed her lips, he felt her flinch in surprise without necessary pulling back. Was he going too far? Analyzing her subtle and clumsy movements, it seemed clear to him it was the first time she ever received private attention from a man, or had it simply been too long? When she parted from him to mention how young she was compared to him, all he answered before he closed the gap between them for a second time was that their pair consisted of adults and how the two of them were mature enough to engage in the relationship he was interested in.

"There's an available spot in my bed if you want to cuddle, Yoshino."

A sparkle of fear and deceit lit her eyes, feeling used, young and stupid. She should've known. Suddenly overflowed with the impression of wearing a too small share of clothing, she turned her face as far as possible from her lip locking partner and held on tight to the robe she had on, previously loosely parted by the Nara head, still not granting her the coverage that she desired. Her eyes sadly dropped to floor.

"I'm not an easy lay or some kind of lonely whore, Shikaku."

Almost suprised by her strong choice of words, the man immediately removed his hand from her upper left ribcage and the back of her head and searched for clues in her facial expression. He would have to get used to this feisty part of her. His heart skipped a beat at the sight of her eyes progressively reddening and taking on a blurred appearance. Was she about to cry? He pulled away from her, held her skinny face in the palm of his hands and breathed twice before he flashed her an understanding smile.

"I'm not taking you to my place to sleep with you, sugar. If I wanted to get that serious, I would've at least attempted to touch you by now. Your top was wide open, right? I had my hand in there and I have yet to feel you up. I genuinely want to spend some time with you. There's something between us and you know that. At some point in time, we certainly will get down and dirty, but don't worry about those things for now. Trust me. When you were hovering over me and trying to save my eye, I trusted you. Never would I force a lady into anything. And you would be the last one, Yoshino. Trust me tonight."

Yoshino stared at him baffled and blushed away at his seductive words washing over her. As soon as she cursed and nodded in agreement he enveloped her with the blanket on her couch, picked her up to have her land on her feet and closed the door behind them all while carefully shielding her from the wind as he prepared to leave. A concerned look on his face, he gauged for her consent once more.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?"

Shikaku sighed in relief as he felt her get closer to him.

"I'll turn your house into a home until two hours past sunrise. Hurry before I change my mind."

"Yes, ma'am."