True Genius
Splintered Soul (Silent Shadow)
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750 word drabble focusing on Shikamaru and Sakura- not necessarily a couple.
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He was a genius. A pure, unadulterated genius, a brilliant mind engraved with systematic plans and complex strategies that seemed to come all to calmly to him. And he treated the intricate ideas almost as if they were insignificant. A bother.
Nara Shikamaru infuriated to Sakura to no end.
Ever since the Chuunin Exams, the thought of him etched at her, clawing away at her last nerves and taunting her.
Sakura was smart, no doubt about it. Her overly large forehead attested to that, filled to the capacity of academy knowledge and brimming with the facts that she so diligently memorized.
But she was no Shikamaru. Hours on end she studied like a predator, devouring every piece of information that was within her reach. But she was nowhere near Shikamaru's level.
What made it worse that he didn't even try. He just sat there, lazy, staring at the clouds all day. She had worked so hard to get what little satisfaction out of the fact that, while she might not be strong, she was smart. Shikamaru, though fell asleep in class and didn't even study, just plaid games all day. He was a natural genius, damn him for that. She could take it if Naruto bested her, he worked hard, trained until he bled. And when bleeding he trained until he fell unconsciousness. He probably trained mentally when he was asleep. Shikamaru just... was.
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Sakura walked up to Shikamaru who was wearing his grungy Chunnin vest, resembling a sloth, and just staring blankly at the sky. Inner Sakura raged in her mind, demanding that she throw insults at him for taking the title she worked so hard for. But instead the pink haired sat down next to him.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked him. What did a true genius think of?
"The sky is blue," he stated.
Sakura blinked. Then she frowned, "No really."
"The clouds are moving slowly."
Her frown deepened, "Fine then don't tell me."
"But I just did."
Something very impolite almost slipped from her mouth but instead she said, "I don't believe that a true genius thinks of clouds all day."
"Hn."
There was a long silence before she finally broke, "How did you get to be so smart? Tell me?"
There was a hunger in voice that she couldn't hide. Nor did she care to.
"Tch. How troublesome."
He was not getting off that easily, Sakura shoved her face right into his dominating his view, her sea-foam eyes narrowing angrily. Shikamaru threw her an exasperated look and finally, as if it was so difficult to do, replied:
"Because I like simple things. I try to make things more efficient and less troublesome."
That didn't make sense to Sakura, you don't get smarter to be lazier. Shikamaru sensed her confusion and with further annoyance replied;
"I'm not smart to impress people or to be a better person so people will accept me. I'm smart because I want to be."
It was rather simple in retrospect, but to Sakura it was a novel idea. Sakura who was picked on as a child, who tried hard to prove herself to her teammates, to exceed her old goal of Ino... smart just because he can? She studied him as if he were a specimen, trying to memorize anything that would help her understand the unconventional genius.
Shikamaru sighed heavily, his eyes half drooped. He knew Sakura wasn't going to leave him alone, he had seen her persistence in her chasings of Sasuke.
"If you're going to be here then let's at least do something."
Do something? Shikamaru?
"Can you play shogi?"
The hell? "A little, but I don't play games. I read."
Shikamaru snorted and sat upright, "Reading is so limited and tedious. With reading you only get one perspective and your mind only works in the direction of a writer, but games helps you think in different ways and look at things at new angles. Reading being better than games is children philosophy drilled in your head by parents who fear laziness."
Sakura paused and considered what he said. It sounded right enough.
"Fine I'll play, but you'll have to teach me a bit."
"How troublesome."
But he didn't say no. Sakura's face split into a large grin and quickly got up to fetch the nearest board she could find. She wasn't going to give up, she will get smarter, and Shikamaru will teach her if she had to beat the help out of him.
---fin---
Actually, this is my first drabble ever. It feels nice not trying to adhere to a length. Anyway I have no idea what brought this up, especially since I adore InoxShikamaru and TemarixShikamaru (Dear me... I hope this doesn't turn into a fandom war). But I guess I wanted to be weird and try something new. Maybe it's just that Shikamaru is my fav. male character and Sakura is my favorite female. Oh well.
In an interesting note: scientific study as show that while men are prone to doing well in things like puzzles and stuff- women are better memorization. Hence, men tend to navigate with maps and women with landmarks.
Shikamaru and Sakura... is like anti-romantic.