Hello readers! I assume that you also fell for this crack pairing just as I did...I feel like they would really make a great pair.
This story is just about how I thought they act if they were on a mission with each other. I thought it would be really cute, so I wrote it out!
Hope you all enjoy~
"Just a little closer…"
The shadow of a tree flickered and stretched out, slowly crawling towards its intended target. Shikamaru held his hands in his seal, kneeling steadily on the branch of the tree.
The target was the leader of a gang of rogue shinobi. He had apparently stolen a valuable scroll from one of the royal clans. The Hokage sent them out to retrieve it.
Them, you ask?
Shikamaru's glanced up to see Sakura taking her position in the shadows of the trees a few meters away from the target. She gave him the signal that she was all set. Looking back at the still opponent, who was in the process of searching the two of them out, Shikamaru smirked as the shadow took possession.
"W-wait, huh?!" the rogue ninja exclaimed in surprise as he was held in place.
"Success." Shikamaru murmured before he met Sakura's gaze and nodded. "Sakura, now!"
The pink haired kunoichi created a series of hand seals and leapt off the branch she was perched on. As she descended on the opponent, a series of clones appeared beside her. Going in for the attack, she noticed the rogue try to bring his hands together. Landing a kick down on the ninja's head, she followed through with a series of punches to his torso. When he didn't react in pain, Sakura narrowed her eyes and jumped back, hesitant.
"What's going on...What's he doing?" Shikamaru observed from behind as the two of them watched his movements closely.
Sakura clenched her fists when she saw the ninja shift his head suddenly. When he lifted his head, there was a seal on his forehead akin to a paper bomb. The kunoichi widened her eyes.
"Paper bomb!" She warned as she was about to take cover. Shikamaru stiffened at this and was about to cover his face himself when he saw the ground around Sakura's feet crack slightly.
"Sakura! Below you!" he yelled as he was about to leap towards her.
The kunoichi barely had time to react as the bomb went off and one of the ninjas from the group exploded out of the ground. She had a second to tilt her head back before the fist could strike her. As the blast of the bomb hit her, she did a back flip away from her opponent only to feel dozens of presences below her.
The smoke of the bomb obscured Shikamaru's vision as he searched for the pink haired kunoichi from the trees. Then he heard the ground break and the clashing of kunai. When he caught the sight of pink hair in the clearing smoke, he was about to meet up with her when the ground began to shake. The blast of strength blew the smoke back to reveal a circle of rogue ninja lying in between the broken up land with Sakura at the middle.
Sakura straightened herself as Shikamaru landed on the ground and made his way towards her.
"Nice one," he greeted as he took a look at the damage she had done. "But still no scroll."
"Yeah, no leader either." Sakura replied as she cracked her knuckles.
"I guess he got us." Sakura said as she began to approach Shikamaru. She was about to take a step over the unconscious bodies when she felt a chakra signature behind her.
Suddenly she moved to the side without her control and dodged the sword that was thrown her way. The man who had thrown it groaned in pain before collapsing. Sakura blinked at where she was and turned to Shikamaru to see the relieved look in his eye as he released the shadow possession.
"Thanks for that," she said as they both began to walk back towards the small village they stopped at.
"Troublesome, but you ended up alive didn't you?" Shikamaru retorted with a light laugh. He saw Sakura laugh for a moment and then suddenly distort.
Shikamaru furrowed a brow in confusion. He watched her for a moment before she suddenly threw a barrage of kunai towards him.
"Oi, Sakura!" He began as he dodged her attack. "What are you—"
"Release!"
Shikamaru halted in his steps at the sound of Sakura's piercing voice, looking around. Then he saw the world around him begin to fade away, the circle of bodies that had been there, disappearing. What he now saw was the back of the pink haired kunoichi. He then noticed the chunk of side that was missing where her hand was currently healing.
"S-Sakura your..." He began, seeing her look over her shoulder in surprise.
"Ah, Shikamaru! You made it back in one piece." Sakura said with a small smile, her eyebrows furrowed in pain. "You were in a genjutsu just now. That man caused it as soon as I had managed to snatch that damn scroll from him."
Shikamaru glanced over her shoulder to see the leader of the rogue group standing a good distance from her with a look of satisfaction on his face. Then he blinked at his surroundings to see the jagged piece of stone on the ground next to him. It was covered in blood.
"While I was getting you out of the illusion, he somehow pulled one up on me." Sakura said through heavy breaths. Shikamaru moved out from behind her to her side and saw the pool of blood by her feet.
"We're gonna have to finish this quick, Shikamaru." Sakura added on as she did a series of hand seals, the green chakra around her hand becoming thicker. She held the chakra to the hole in her side, the chakra sticking to it, stopping the bleeding momentarily.
"Are you sure? Can you move?" Shikamaru inquired as he fell into a stance, his eyes looking at the wound warily.
"Of course I can! I'll lead him to you." Sakura said before taking off, coming at the rogue at a high speed.
Sakura ducked under the punch that he sent and made a move to kick his feet out from under him. As he jumped, she twisted to the side to avoid the kick he sent and pushed up on her feet to send a chakra filled punch towards him. When her fist was avoided, she felt his foot slam into her side, resulting in her yell and stumbling to her knees, breathing heavily.
As she blinked red from the pain, she saw Shikamaru's shadow possess the rogue's and snake up his body, keeping him immobilized.
"Sakura!" Shikamaru gave the signal.
Summoning everything she had, Sakura took a deep breath and slammed a chakra filled punch into the man's stomach. As he fell to his knees, dead, Sakura almost collapsed into the ground but put her hands out to catch herself.
Shikamaru reached her side, a hand at the small of her back.
"Hang in there, Sakura!" He said as he saw her arms tremble. She wouldn't be able to hold herself up anymore.
"Get to the village," she softly said as Shikamaru picked her up in his arms and darted in the direction of it.
"Right. Stay awake, you hear? Troublesome woman," he said under his breath. He heard her laugh slightly and thought this was a ridiculous time to be laughing.
"I'm not gonna die, Shikamaru," she quietly said, her hand trying to heal the wound as they went.
"Still. I get that the Hokage wanted the two of us here because we were her two smartest, but this?" Shikamaru scoffed softly as he glanced down at the pink haired woman. Her face was growing pale.
"If I need a blood transfusion, you're giving your blood to me." Sakura said with a small smirk on her lips. Her eyes were blinking slower.
Shikamaru moved faster. The village was coming into sight.
-.-
When Sakura woke, she was overwhelmed by the light over her eyes and shut them again. Opening them slowly, she squinted as she grew accustomed to the light and glanced around to see that there was an IV drip beside her. Turning her head, she saw Shikamaru leaning over his knees, his forehead leaning against his locked hands.
He was sleeping.
Smiling to herself, Sakura moved her hand to her injured side to see that it was bandaged. Ah, so he had gotten her here in time. Relishing in the silence, Sakura glanced at Shikamaru again to see that he was about to lean forward off the chair. Stretching her arm out to catch him, she bit her lip at the pain but let out a laugh as the Jounin in front of her shifted forward. His eyes opened wide as he caught himself just as Sakura's outstretched hand smacked him in the face.
"Uh…." Shikamaru began as Sakura let out a chuckle. His head shot up in surprise to meet Sakura's amused expression. "You're up. Thank Kami." He said as he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, leaning back in the chair he was sitting in.
"So did you end up having to give me blood like I said?" Sakura asked as she pulled back her arm, wincing slightly.
"Yeah, a bit." Shikamaru said with a laugh. "Troublesome as it was."
"Oh! The scroll! Did you get it before I passed out?" the pink haired kunoichi said as she tried to sit up, only to stiffen and lie back down.
"Yeah, it's here." Shikamaru replied as he pulled it from his pouch, handing it to her. "Try not to move so much."
Sakura grasped the scroll in her hands and raised it above her head, a look of wonder in her eyes. She could only think about the contents inside.
"Listen Sakura,"
She put down her arms and turned her head curiously to see Shikamaru scratching the side of his cheek, self-consciously. His cheeks were a tinge of pink as he kept his gaze to the floor.
"About the genjutsu…thanks for that," he said after a few moments of struggling, an embarrassed smile across his lips.
"No problem, Shikamaru!" Sakura replied with a bright smile. "You got caught in the genjutsu so I had to get you out." She said as she looked at Shikamaru who still wouldn't look up.
"Yeah, you attacked me out of nowhere. It was weird." He muttered under his breath as his pink cheeks faded and he looked up.
"The day I attack Shikamaru Nara is the day I've signed my death." Sakura said with a laugh. She caught his cheeks going red again. She thought it was cute.
He looked like he was going to say something but was interrupted when the door of the small room they were in suddenly opened. A woman in a white lab coat came in with a clipboard, noticing that Sakura was awake as she lifted her head.
"Ah, good that you're awake. You barely made it here too." The doctor said as she gave a glance towards Shikamaru before meeting Sakura's gaze. "You've got about another day of rest, but you can move around slowly. The healing that you had done before you got here helped reduce the severity of the injury, but you still have to recover."
The doctor tossed a bottle of medication towards Shikamaru, who caught it easily.
"Meds for the pain. You can stay here for a few more hours if you'd like." She said with a small smile, bowing slightly before leaving the room.
"So….you hungry?" Shikamaru asked as he handed Sakura the bottle of medication.
"Starving!" Sakura said with a cheerful smile.
During Sakura's recovery, Shikamaru got to spend a lot more time with her than usual. They spent time eating, discussing theories, and ultimately teasing each other to no end. It was overall an enjoyable time for him and he had no doubt that Sakura was also having a good time.
When they got back to the Leaf village and delivered the scroll back to the Hokage, there was no doubt in his mind that the two of them would hang out more.
A week later, they were called into the same room for yet another mission.
"You'll be investigating a group that has the tendency to hijack cruise ships." The Hokage said to them.
"Cruise—"
"—ships?"
The two of them said in astonishment, first looking at the Hokage, then at each other.
They both grinned widely.
Then the Hokage scolded the both of them.
Their mission would definitely have its surprises.
-.-
There we are! I hope you liked it. They're so cute.
I don't know if I'll write the cruise ship story, but I'll see! Maybe if I think about it more.
-FallenWing21