Hello all. This is a Sakura x Shikamaru love story, and I really hope you enjoy it.
Summary: When everyone thinks she is dead, everyone left her. Except one boy. Now she needs his help to recover from a horrible attempted assasination, and uncover the twisted mystery. ShikaSaku.
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, would I be writing FANFICTION ?
Anomoly.
The clouds hung in the air in a lazy fashion, blocking rays of the warm, happy sunlight from the young ninja's closed eyes. On any normal day Shikamaru would rest in the cool grass while watching the clouds pass him by, but something seemed different today.
And not in a good way.
Shikamaru seemed more tense today. Ino had been staring at him strangely all day, he must have looked out of it. Ino had tried to get him to tell her what was wrong, but Shikamaru just clammed (sp ? sorry guys, my spell check is messed up) up and continued looking up at the clouds.
The boys gaze stared upon the once beautiful cherry tree, which now seemed gray and depressed through the ninja's intelligent, brown eyes.
He let out a sigh, and forced himself in a sitting postition. Looking around himself, Shikamaru could see no one in sight. Wondering where everyone could be, he fell back on the grass, resting his sore eyes.
Re-opening his eyes, he looked back at the dark, gray cherry tree. A puzzled look fell onto his face.
"Cherry tree ? Hmmm... must remind me of someone..." Shikamaru whisprered to himself, right before realizing he was thinking about one particular female ninja.
"Sakura ? Where has she been lately ? How troublesome. Usually she always takes a walk over here in the afternoon..." He said again, this time getting up on his feet.
He wandered over to the tree, leaning his back on the slim trunk. Shikamaru pictured Sakura in his mind, looking over her gorgeous face and soft, shiny hair. Well, he had never actually touched it, but he always imagined it would be soft.
Shikamaru let out another sigh, asking himself why he couldn't get his mind off her.
'I can't even cloudwatch without her face popping up in my head ! How troublesome !' Shikamaru thought angrily.
Finally giving up on his most beloved hobby, Shikamaru walked into the town, heading towards a popular diner for a late lunch. The sky was still dark from the clouds hovering about the town.
He passed only a few familiar faces, which seemed strange to him. Usually, he would see Naruto at the Ramen stand, and Ino at her flower shop, but today he only saw Neji and Chouji. Shurgging it off, Shikamaru entered the restaurant and was seated almost at once.
The diner was empty. Many wiaters were just sitting around, chatting among each other, though not quietly enough so that Shikamaru couldn't hear.
"Did you hear about her ? Poor girl ! And they don't even have a clue about what happened !" One waitress with brown hair screeched.
"I know ! I heard nearly two thirds of the town is over there. Poor girl indeed. Poor parents !" Another one whispered.
Shikamaru, now interested in the matter, turned towards the small group of waiters, making eye contact with one of them.
"What girl was this ? What happened to her ?" Shikamaru asked politely.
"The girl ? Hmm... I don't know her, but she had an odd color of hair... blue perhaps ? Or orange... No ! It was pink !" The waitress screeched again.
Shikamaru's heart stopped.
He felt hot as the waitress continued. "But anyways, she was found dead in the park... they don't have a clue what happened ! No signs of being hit or attacked or anything... they're checking for poisoning now I believe... poor girl..."
Shikamaru slowly turned his head towards the window. He saw the entrance to the park, people crowded around it.
"The thing looked so pale... I stopped over there before work... she was so young too... I feel horrible for her friends and family..." The other waitress spoke softly.
Shikamaru was in the mood to knock the woman out. He stood up and left the diner in an instant, turning to face the park. He could see Hinata sobbing near a tree in the distance, and Naruto attempted to comfort her.
As he slowly walked closer and closer to the park, he also saw Ino not too far away, a depressed, solumn look on her face and she walked back to her flower shop, not even noticing him.
The truth finally hit Shikamaru.
Sakura is dead.
His eyes opened wide, his mouth agap. Shikamaru began running full speed to the scene of the 'crime', something he didn't do too often. The lazy ninja weaved his way carefully through the crowd of people, hoping to see Sakura possibly alive, something he doubted very much, but hope kept him holding on.
He stopped when he came to a clearing in from of a yellow line of tape. Only a few feet away from him lay Sakura, pale as a ghost, her pink hair angled around her face.
"Oh no..." He said quietly to himself. Fighting back tears, he looked around him to see any friends.
Sasuke, Kiba, Tenten and many other young ninja stood around the girl in silence. He looked back at the dead girl, lying on her back. Sakura's eyes were opened, her beautiful green eyes seemed so dark, and her cherry lips formed in an 'o'. Shikamaru brought his hands up to his eyes, trying to whipe away potential tears.
But then, he saw something.
A twitch of her finger ? Was that possible ?
He continued staring at the girl in disbelief, trying to remember if you could twitch when you were dead.
Shikamaru turned towards Sasuke. "Did you just see her finger twitch ?" He asked, slightly freaked out.
"No... Maybe you're seeing things." Sasuke replied, obviously annoyed.
"I don't think so... Look ! It twitched again !" Shikamaru nearly screamed. The crowd behind him began chirping.
"Twitching ? OH MY GAWD, IT IS !" One lady screamed.
"No it's not ! She's dead, she can't move ! You're all seeing things." A man replied angrily.
Ear-deafening loud voices erupted from the crowd, Shikamaru had started quite some commotion. He just continued staring at the girl's arm, hoping that maybe somehow it would twitch again, or she would suddenly stand up, gasping for breath.
Suddenly, Naruto came speeding up to Shikamaru. "She moved ?!" He asked loudly, happy to hear the good news. "That's great," He continued. "maybe she'd not dead ! Maybe all along she just looked dead ! Or maybe she'd coming back to life, maybe she'd like a zombie or something ! Oh, I can't wait to tell Hinata, this is so exciting !" Naruto finished, running back into the crowd, probably trying to find Hinata.
"Great job, Shikamaru. Now you have given everyone high hopes of Sakura being alive, and when they find out she really isn't, everyone's going to be depressed again. Real. Good. Job." Sasuke said, turning back into the crowd to go home.
After about an hour or two of standing around, waiting to see Sakura come jumping back to life, the crowd had vanished, all probably going home. Most of Sakura's friends had gone home now too, Tenten, Sasuke and Naruto had gone home in a group, still upset about their friends death.
After about another hour, Kiba had turned to go home. "You coming ?" He asked Shikamaru, turning back to the tired ninja.
"Nah. I'm going to stay another hour or so. You never know..." He replied. It wasn't like he had anything better to do anyway, and he was really hoping to see Sakura's glowing face again.
Her face that made his heart melt. Her gorgeous, green eyes shimmering on every occasion. Her cherry lips appearing so soft, and her pink, shining hair that danced in the wind.
Not to mention she was always so kind and polite, and a pretty skilled ninja.
Shikamaru sighed as he walked closer to Sakura, ignoring the warning yellow tape.
"Well... you certainly have many friends. Too bad they all already left. Looks like its just you and me..." Shikamaru said, talking to Sakura, who may or may not have been listening.
"I remember the first time I saw you... I always thought pink was a rather strange hair color, but it seemed to grow on me." He spoke again, running a finger through her hair.
Shikamaru didn't care if he was confessing his love for a dead person, he didn't care if people thought he was crazy. It's too troublesome to bother about what other people think of you.
Strangely, it looked as if her whole arm twitched this time. He wondered why she hadn't been taken to the hospital. It was rather strange...
Her arm moved again, but Shikamaru hadn't noticed it. It moved closer to Shikamaru, almost grabbing his arm, but just missing by a few inches. Sakura's eyes moved to the left to face the young adult, trying to give him a sign that she was indeed alive.
His eyes suspiciously traveled back to her arm. It was strange that it had suddenly appeared so close to him. Perhaps he hadn't noticed that it was so close... perhaps he just unknowingly moved closer to her.
His hand moved towards her wrist. He felt a pulse. She was alive.
"What, were they not smart enough to check for a pulse ? Stupid medic nins... too ignorant to check for the obvious... You wouldn't make that mistake. You'd check for a pusle." Shikamaru spoke to Sakura again.
A low voice began erupting from Sakura's mouth.
"Shi... shik... shika..." She said, moving her arm to his.
His eyes moved to her small mouth, a concerned look on his face.
"Ho... hos... hospit..." She barely said. Shikamaru understood. He picked her up in his arms, bridel style, and ran towards the hospital. He passed Naruto on his way.
"Why the hell are you picking up a dead person ?" Naruto asked, a little concerned about his friend's mental health.
"She's alive !" He screamed, quickly running past him. Naruto's eyes lit up, he followed him to the hospital.
"How do you know that ?" He asked.
"She moved, she talked, and she had a pulse !" He screamed back, pushing the hospital doors open with his shoulder as the girl lying in his arms tried speaking Naruto's name, but failed horribly as no voice came out of her mouth.
Shikamaru ran up to the girl at the desk, speaking very quickly, and out of breath.
"Everyone... though she was... dead... she isn't... moved... talked... had pulse... need room now !" He said in between deep breaths. The nurse nodded and sat the girl down in a wheelchair, rolling her to a room with great speed, as Shikamaru followed behind her.
"Are you her boyfriend or something ?" The nurse asked.
Shikamaru blushed. "Uhmm... friend..." He said sheepishly.
"Oh... but you like her, don't you ?" The nurse said smiling.
'Damn, why do nurses have to be so nosey !' He thought to himself.
"Uhmmm...well..." "You do." The nurse cut him off, opening a door and calling for a doctor.
Shikmaru's face turned a deep red, looking away from the nurse.
"The doctor will be in in about five mintues. Look after her until he comes in." The nurse instructed.
Shikamaru nodded, sighing as soon as the nurse left. He turned towards Sakura, moving closer to her.
Sakura opened her eyes, and smiled at the boy. "Thank... you..." She whispered. Shikamaru nodded. "No problem..." He replied.
She smiled wider. "The nurse said you like me. I heard." Shikamaru's face turned a much deeper red then before.
"Well... uhh... I guess..." He said again, looking down at his feet.
"Come closer." She said. Shikamaru, puzzled, moved even closer to the girl.
"Closer." She said again. They were now face-to-face, only a few centimeters away from each others lips. Sakura leaned closer to him, giving him a small peck on the lip. "Thank you." She spoke softly. "It was very sweet of you."
Shikamaru's face turned the deepest color of red imaginable, walking back a few feet, nearly tripping over a garbage can.
Before he could say anything back to her, the doctor stormed in.
"You, lover boy, out. I need to operate, possibly." He commanded, Shikamaru scowling at his comment, but walked out of the room.
He sat in the waiting room, with Naruto, who had stayed behind.
Naruto smiled at him. "You like her." He said, giving him his famous fox grin, showing his canines.
Shikamaru opened his mouth to say something, but closed it when Naruto cut him off. "And I think she likes you." He said again, giving Shikamaru a very large grin.
"Good-night, Naruto." He said, turning away from the boy, closing his eyes, falling asleep. But not before smiling to himself.
'Score.' He thought to himself, as sleep approached him, filled with dreams of Sakura.
'I will get them together, whether they want to or not.' Naruto thought to himself, before also falling asleep.
Well, that was chapter one ! At first, I was going to make this a one-shot, but I decided to change it ! So chapter two coming eventually ! Wooo !
Please read and review ! The more reviews, the quicker chapter two will come.
-thnx