Disclaimer: I do not, nor claim to, own the characters of Inuyasha or Naruto. This fanfic does not earn me any monetary profit or recognition. It was written for the simple purpose of entertainment.
A/N: Wow, it's been a while since I've been here. Just a short one-shot consisting of Shikamaru/Kagome snapshots. Please Read, Review, and Enjoy!
L
Onions
"Here!"
A delicately bundled bento was shoved unceremoniously into his hands but he paid it no mind, more interested in the misty-eyed young woman that stood before him.
"What happened to you?"
Kagome smiled uncertainly.
"What do you mean?"
Biting back a frown, Shikamaru peered steadily into her wide blue eyes and noted the slight redness that rimmed them.
"Never mind," he muttered sullenly.
He ignored her shout at him as he turned and sauntered lazily to the academy, recalling her words only after he undid the knot of pinkish-peach fabric printed with bright red cherries and pried open the lid to reveal the lunch she packed for him.
It was only the onions.
"How'd you get in my kitchen?"
Not that he was really perturbed by her appearance.
"The door was unlocked," Kagome chirped cheerfully.
"Right," he drawled, clearly not believing her.
"Of course I am."
He left her to her cooking, tactfully not mentioning the tears that were escaping from her.
"It's only the onions!" she called after him.
Shikamaru glanced over his shoulder and, to emphasize her point, Kagome gestured the knife she was using at the pile of diced onions on the cutting board.
"Right," he muttered again with a snort.
One sniff of the breakfast omelet he was served and he was able to cut her off before she could defend her puffy eyes.
"I know: it was only the onions."
It looked like a storm cloud was following her wherever she went. Shikamaru watched her approach him out of the corners of his eyes, never showing that he was, however, aware of her presence…until, that was, something collided with the side of his head.
"Eat!" she commanded, a furrow creasing her brow, "Then…"
Her entire demeanor seemed to wilt as she sat down behind him and laid her face against his reassuring warmth, thoroughly hidden from view.
"…let me borrow your back, okay?"
He obediently unfolded the cloth napkin that enclosed the rice ball and took a tentative bite, not all too surprised to find it stuffed with an onion and salmon mixture when he heard a few muffled sobs and felt his shirt cling to his skin from the collecting moisture.
"What will it take for the onions to stop making you cry?"
"I don't know," Kagome choked out hopelessly, "I wish I did, I so wish I did…"
He hesitantly sat down at the dinner table and gazed cautiously up at Kagome as she set his food before him: a bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, a plate of grilled mackerel and pickles…
"You made a lot," he commented casually.
"Someone had to feed you," was her watery retort.
There was a pause in which she seemed to realize her slip in composure, prompting her to hurriedly open her mouth to cover it up only to have Shikamaru point out that there weren't any onions in the meal tonight.
She found that someone had beaten her to the kitchen.
"What are you doing, Shikamaru?"
He sent her a dry look.
"I think those onions made you cry yourself blind."
Kagome glared petulantly, "Since when did you cook?"
"Since I threw away all your onions."
He had rather expected that she'd simply go out and buy more anyway, but one meal in which she wouldn't have to eat alone something she had cooked for two, was enough for today.
"St-stupid Shikamaru," she sniffled, watching him continue slicing daikon for stew, "It wasn't the damn onions okay?!"
"I know," he replied calmly.
"Then why'd you have to throw them away, why'd you have to—"
"Because," Shikamaru turned to her, deadly serious, "it's not a good excuse to cry. They're only vegetables."
"Well what was I supposed to do?! Run to you every time he doesn't come home for dinner?! Run to you every morning I wake up and find that he's not there, didn't even come home at night?! Run to you every time he calls during the day to blow off some plan we had for later?!"
"Sure," he said, resuming the tending of his stew, "my back's all yours."
"You're such an idiot," she whimpered.
Unable to help herself, Kagome walked up behind her friend, pressed her face into the comfort of his back, and wept.
Shikamaru began gently humming something his mother used to when she cooked once he felt her hands clutch his shirt tightly, relieved at her reaction and mentally swearing retribution on her wayward boyfriend.