It Begins

"Urgh!" Shikamaru grumbled rolling over in bed

It was close to midnight and he was having more that a little trouble getting to sleep. Every time he'd settle long enough to doze off a strangled sob from the room next to his would rouse him once more.

"Troublesome woman and her troublesome nightmares."

The Sato girl next door had finally returned from her latest mission...after nine months of being missing... He didn't know all the details and hadn't tried to pry but judging by the sounds she was making, he figured that whatever happened in those nine months, had left her with some haunting memories. But hey what did he care right, he didn't even know her...

"Alright, that's not entirely true..." He muttered to himself in the gloom.

She was his neighbor, his occasional training partner, he'd eaten dinner with her family and she with his... sometimes he even shared field space with her. Speaking of fields she hadn't been to theirs since she returned... dare he think it... he was actually disappointed. They didn't speak while laying there in the long grass, there was no need to... for hours they'd lay in silence mere feet away from each other staring at the clouds. She wasn't troublesome then... not like now. A particularly loud whimper shook him from his thoughts causing him to glare in the direction of the dividing wall. A disgruntled meow from the other side of the room told Shikamaru that even Tazo-kun was awake. The tubby torteshell scrambled up onto the bed after many heaving attempts and meowed again expectantly.

"What?" Shikamaru exclaimed seeking out his feline friends furry head to scratch "What do you want me to do, I can't shut her up."

Tazo butted his blindly searching hand meowing again, more persistently this time. Shikamaru frowned and propped himself up on one elbow to stare sullen in the direction of Tazo's reflective yellow eyes.

"You want me to try?"

"Meow."

"And how am I supposed to do that?"

"…"

Shikamaru flicked on his bedside lamp and rolled out of bed with a groan. He padded towards the window and as he opened it he glanced back at the fat cat that had now occupied his prior place of rest.

"If I get into any trouble for this I'm blaming you."

"Purr!" Tazo-kun rolled onto his back

"How troublesome!"

Author's note

This is just the first chapter of a longer and more detailed story...