A/N: Well, my first fanfiction in this account, also, the first ShikaTayu fanfiction I ever write. I plan to write long chapters, so there aren't going to be too many chapters. I want it to have about 20. Yeah, I guess it'll be enough. Also, I have to give credits to my adored friend and beta for the corrections. Thank you very much, RigorM0RTIS ;33

Disclaimer: Nah, I don't own Naruto, if I did, it'd be a little bit... better. Thanks, Kishimoto, you messed up with everything.

P.S. This will be the only time I'll write the disclaimer thing.

CHAPTER I

The sun had set and darkness fell upon the sky. The stars twinkled like fireflies. The moon was full; illuminating the village more than it would any other night. Tayuya panted as she carefully left the village, her hand covering a wound on her shoulder. She could hardly believe that she had escaped from the torture and starvation of the prison. Although she had nowhere to go, at least she wouldn't be beaten and tortured both physically and psychologically every day.

It had been a hard fight. She had underestimated the shinobi of Konoha thanks to Orochimaru, her master, who always told her that they were extremely weak and vulnerable. Although she came victorious in that battle, maybe she was about to lose the war; and she didn't intend to lose. The more wins, the better.

Hunger gnawed at her stomach; and, because of her hunger, her sense of smell was sharpened by at least 40%. She could smell ramen, bacon, and eggs. Oh, how she would kill for a warm bowl of delicious ramen! Sniffing some more, she could take in the appetizing scent of sushi and yakitori. But what she wished for, she couldn't get. She didn't have any money and, thus, couldn't afford a palatable meal.

Soon the ninja of Konoha would be after her, and, if a villager recognized her, it would be the end of her. Yet the "end" didn't seem all that bad to her, in fact, it was almost tempting. Tayuya continued to walk with one of her hands on her belly, rubbing to help ease her hunger pains. Her empty stomach craved for food and her exhausted body longed for rest.

When her suffering became too much for her, she stopped in her tracks. The fugitive growled for she knew what was about to happen. She would faint. She would faint from her starvation and fatigue. And that wasn't her only problem crippling her; she was injured and losing too much blood. While lost in deep thought, she collapsed to her knees. The fugitive had reached her limit. Her vision blurred and everything was fading. So was this the end? That was her thought just before everything went black.

Her thin body lied on the ground, and a shinobi was approaching. When his feet were just inches away from the girl's body, he muttered something inaudible to himself; something that seemed to be "troublesome" and "woman". He carefully lifted her body and tried to position it as best as possible in his arms, so that her wounds wouldn't open even more.

After his hold on her was secure, he quickly left the area. What a compromising situation! That woman was going to trouble him for sure, sooner or later.

Brown eyes opened; eyelids still heavy. Those same eyes stared at a white ceiling. Wait... white ceiling? Tayuya couldn't recall anything related to a house with white ceiling. Where was she... and why? She needed to know that before anything else. However, her thoughts quickly shifted and she noticed that there was a bit of gauze and adhesive tape on her arm. There were bandages wrapped around her legs and her wounds didn't hurt as much as they did realizing that, she also noted that she was lying on a soft mattress. It had been over ten years since she had rested on a mattress as soft as this one.

Focus. She needed to focus on finding out where she was. Concluding that staying in the same place wouldn't help, she started to get up. Once she set her foot on the floor, she saw that her shoes were also there. It seemed as if whoever took her to this place had been extremely careful with her. That alone was something weird.

She decided to explore. First, she exited the room. She didn't know the place very well at all, but it seemed to be a small place. She certainly wouldn't have trouble checking everything out. She started with the living room, and there she saw a bookshelf with thick, heavy books and a few scrolls. She brought her attention to two couches. In the middle of the room, there was a dining table with a flower pot on top of it... well, almost. There was simply a pot, the flowers were nonexistent.

Finding no one there, she decided to check the kitchen, which, besides the bathroom, was the last room she had to check. Reaching the kitchen, she almost choked on her salivation. Somehow, that person seemed almost familiar. He had some weird pineapple hairdo. He chopped some vegetables and quietly hummed a song that she didn't recognize.

She didn't say a word. Instead, she just kept watching him, trying to remember just who he was. It took a while for her to finally recall, and, when she realized, she almost screamed.

"You!" she pointed. Shikamaru calmly turned and watched as the pissed off redhead shouted at him with such a rage, "You're that asshole who almost defeated me in that battle! You almost killed me! Son of a...!"

"Heh, actually, I beat you, so you should remove the 'almost' from that sentence. And yes, that was me," he sighed. Why did women have to be so noisy and troublesome? Besides, they just loved to boss men around. That irritated him profoundly. "I found you. You had passed out, so I brought you here. You should be grateful. After all, I didn't take you back to prison. Well, it wouldn't be like me to be abandon a woman, anyway."

But she wasn't grateful and his sexism deeply annoyed her. It was very clear that sexism was something common, but it was neither well-regarded nor appreciated. And clearly, this sort of behavior wasn't going to be eradicated any time soon.

"You sexist rat," Tayuya angrily snorted, pressing one of her hands against the wall. "You'll regret what you've done, shithead. You should have let me die. You'd be better off that way. I thought you were smart, but apparently it was just an a-eh..." Tayuya was interrupted by the unpleasant growling of her empty stomach. Her gaze brought itself to the vegetables Shikamaru was cutting before she showed up.

"What?" he asked. She certainly looked malnourished and she had slimmed down considerably since her arrival to Konoha. "Oh, right... you have to eat. Sit down." Tayuya snorted once again and approached the small wooden table.

"With all that man pride of yours, you might as well pull out a chair for me, rat," said the redhead as she carefully seated herself in one of the four chairs, occasionally letting a groan of pain emit from her. Shikamaru chuckled; not because he was amused, but because she really refused to call him by his name. Tayuya sat down and put her arms on the table. Tayuya watched him intently, watching his every move. After a while, Shikamaru began to put some vegetables on a plate. "So you like to cook," she smirked, "I thought you were the type of guy who wouldn't make his own food ever." And he was that kind of guy, indeed, but he didn't have a wife or even a girlfriend to cook for him.

Shikamaru nervously smiled. She really knew how to provoke him.

"Hey, the greatest chefs are men. I just think women should be more delicate, sweet, and gentle. Oh, and less bossy," he said, handing a plate to Tayuya. Tayuya didn't hesitate to ravenously consume her vegetables. "But, I see women are necessarily bossy."

"Damn right, shithead. This stuff about women being 'delicate' and 'sweet' is something you dreamed up. You probably have a lot of utopian ideas. Dream on, rat," she said between bites. It didn't take long until her plate was completely empty. "There's more, right? Your food probably tastes like shit, but I'm just too hungry to even notice."

Shikamaru sighed and nodded; picking up her plate and serving her more vegetables. He usually didn't eat anything besides that, but at least it was healthier than eating ramen every single day. It wasn't like he hated ramen or anything like that, but vegetables were much cheaper, and he, as a lonely adult living in a small apartment, should save as much money as he could.

Tayuya wished she could protest. She wished she could demand better food. However, she wasn't in the position to demand anything. Again, she devoured the plate of vegetables, not stopping to enjoy their flavor. She just ate them. This second plate seemed to satisfy her. She pushed the plate away, indicating that she was full.

"You're welcome," Shikamaru muttered sarcastically. Tayuya snorted and rolled her eyes. He shouldn't expect a "thank you" from her, because, in her point of view, he didn't deserve an act of gratitude. "If you weren't a bad person, I would take you to the hospital so you would be treated better. But if I take you there, everyone is going to recognize you. Well, it's not my fault that you chose a bad path."

"You think so, rat?" She was a mere child when Orochimaru bit her and gave her that horrible curse. That rat didn't know anything. She ran risks, but she was allegedly the "lucky" child out of the ten who were bitten like she was. The other nine perished. She survived. Tayuya scoffed, "So you really think I wanted to be with that snake pedophile? You're so stupid if you think that. So this whole time your 'smartness' was just an act? I knew it and I'm not surprised."

Shikamaru grunted. He was smart; very smart, for that matter. But how could he know that? Even if she didn't choose to go with Orochimaru, she still had the chance to change her ways. She had the chance numerous times. Sitting down to eat, he looked at her. She was filthy. If she didn't take care of herself, her wounds could get infected and worsen the problem.

"Shower," he ordered, "Go and shower." It earned a confused look from the short redhead. "Once you're clean, I'll take a better look at your wounds."

"And why should I obey you?" she protested, clearly annoyed with his orders.

"Because I'm not doing the right thing by helping you. I'm helping a fugitive and this village has its rules. They can throw me out if they find out about this. So, please, obey," he explained, starting to eat his own vegetables. "I'll leave a change of clothes for you."

Tayuya sighed and nodded in defeat. She got up and limped in search of the bathroom.

She knew Shikamaru would regret doing what he was doing sooner or later. And if she didn't make him regret it, his village would.

She wasn't an ordinary fugitive. She was one of Orochimaru's elite guards and part of The Sound Four, the team that helped Sasuke when he left the village.

When she finally found the bathroom, she went in and closed the door behind her, making sure to lock it. She took the opportunity to look at the mirror, and when she saw her reflection, Tayuya took the following notes; her hair reached her butt. She was still very slender and her breasts had gotten bigger. It didn't come across as a surprise to her. She had spent many years in that prison. Heck, she was 22 now, it was only normal for her bust to have grown.

Carefully, she began to unbutton the shirt she wore, which was a part of the prison's uniform. When the shirt was removed, she began to pull down her pants, being careful with her leg wounds. When she was completely nude, she untied the bandages and removed them. Then she did the same with the gauze on her arm.

Supporting herself with the sink, she walked slowly towards the shower and turned it on, placing her hand under the water to test the temperature. When the temperature satisfied her, she entered the shower.

It was wonderful feeling the hot water against her skin; just the way she remembered it being. Closing her eyes, she spent a few minutes enjoying the warmth that the water offered. After enjoying the water for a few minutes, she grabbed the bottle of shampoo and squeezed the contents in her hand. She replaced the shampoo and began to wash her long, red hair. Massaging the scalp and the hair itself, she made sure that every single part of her hair was clean.

After that, she washed the shampoo out of her hair. Then she picked up the conditioner and put a generous amount of the substance into her hands. Setting aside the bottle, she did the same thing she had previously done with the shampoo.

When she was done cleaning and hydrating her hair, she took the slippery soap into her hands and began to cleanse her dirty body. So much dirt was removed as she washed her skin with the soap. She really was in need of this cleaning. She paid close attention to her wounds, and thoroughly cleaned them with soap and water.

Once she was finally clean, she turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. She reached for a white towel. She took her time drying her hair and body. When she was dry, she wrapped the towel around her body and opened the door. She looked down and saw some clean clothes. She just hoped that rat wasn't trying to do something "funny" with her, because if he was, that'd be the last thing he'd ever do.

Tayuya rushed to pick up the clothes, bring them into the bathroom, and shut the door. Throwing the towel aside, she examined the clothes she was given. The first thing that called her attention was the men's underwear. Boxers, really? she thought as her eyes strayed to a long-sleeved black shirt and a pair of white shorts. Clearly, he didn't have the best taste in clothes if he gave her that to wear, but it would have to do for the time.

She quickly dressed herself and looked at herself in the mirror. Well, the clothes didn't reveal anything she didn't want anyone to be seeing, so she decided they were fine. Tayuya opened the mirror cabinet and from there, she took out a comb. Then she began to comb her hair; she was lucky that her hair was straight. When she was finished using the comb, she returned it to its place in the cabinet and left the bathroom, being careful with her legs as she walked.

Shikamaru was in the living room, sprawled on the couch and staring at the ceiling. He seemed satisfied, and that was because he was very lazy. He didn't seem to own a television, perhaps because it'd too troublesome to go out and buy one.

Tayuya gingerly approached; giving the Jounin a look of annoyance, her default expression. Shikamaru, noticing her presence, stared back, as if asking what she wanted.

"Uh... um... well, I need gauze and bandages, shithead," the redhead said, her fingers running through her hair.

"Hmm. Maybe. If you ask me politely and say please, then maybe I'll get what you want," Shikamaru said. But of course, he did not expect she would really ask politely for gauze and bandages, so what he said was more of a joke. Shikamaru stood up, since he would have to get what she needed anyway.

"Tch, like I said, dream on, shithead," Tayuya spat while putting a hand on her hip and leaning against a wall.

Shikamaru walked towards his room and Tayuya slowly followed him. When they got there, he opened a drawer and took gauze, adhesive tape, and bandages from it. Tayuya took the freedom to sit on his bed. Shikamaru turned to her, placing the tape and gauze on top of the bed. He knelt in front of Tayuya examined her legs' wounds. Tayuya bit her lower lip, a frown quickly appearing on her face.

"Easy now, I'll wrap the bandages around your wounds. Stay still," the lazy man said, as if he were some kind of medical specialist. He only knew the basics-what any self-respecting shinobi should know. Tayuya snorted and stiffened as he lifted her left leg. She tried her best to not kick Shikamaru. He carefully wrapped the bandages around her wounds, repeating the process several times so that there would be layers of bandage protecting her wounds.

After treating the wounds on Tayuya's legs, he stood up a bit. He looked at the wound on her arm and shook his head disapprovingly.

"You're a troublemaker, aren't you?" he said, as if scolding the redhead. Tayuya looked away with an angry snort. She found her current situation to be an irritation. Shikamaru put the gauze on the wound on Tayuya's arm and then fixed it into place with the tape. "There, all done. I wish I could give you a better treatment, but I can't."

Tayuya nodded reluctantly. Since she couldn't get any better, she would have to be satisfied with the treatment she was getting. She watched as Shikamaru got up and started walking towards the door.

"Hey, where are you going, rat?" the redhead questioned with a confused look on her face

"You can sleep here. I'll take the couch."

Tayuya snorted and nodded. If he wanted her to stay in his comfortable bed, then fine. She laid herself down on the bed. She hugged the pillow and she quickly fell asleep.

Shikamaru looked at her one last time, and shrugged. Then he left the bed room and he lied on the couch.