Series: Naruto
Author: Snow Tigra
Warnings: None. Just a cute Valentines Day fic for Chouji and Shikamaru.
The day was the same as any other. Birds woke you up at an annoying hour of the morning, coupled with the sunshine with a promise of not a single cloud to block it and spare you from the brightness. Soft sounds of training could be heard out the window along with yelling from the younger kids who weren't trained enough yet to really have any title, or even their coveted forehead protectors with the swirling leaf etched into the front.
Nothing was different at all, so why were people acting in such a strange way?
As Shikamaru walked down the street that morning, he noticed with annoyance, all the differences around him. Girls of all ages were talking to each other in hushed voices, comparing plans and boxes wrapped in bright red bows and some were holding flowers from Ino's shop. Ino herself had skipped out on training today because there was apparently help needed with the family business, since today was such a troublesome day.
The air was buzzing with whispers of hope and gifts that had been received or might be received before the end of the day. Girls were giddy and boys were shy and blushing, or out right rude to those around them, turning down gifts or fumbling through words to give one out. And every now and then the air was punctuated by a happy little squeal as someone found they'd received a gift from a boy or girl too shy to leave their name. They might have been happy, but it left Shikamaru with a bored frown on his face, rubbing his ears until the high pitched sound faded.
This had to be the most troublesome day of the year.
Shikamaru's feet carried him in no particular direction as he tried to think of a place where he could hide himself from the extra annoyances of the day. It wasn't that he really minded the gifts or bows or chocolates or flowers, or that he was jealous in any way. More that he wanted to avoid any of the trouble that the day was promising for him. The last thing he needed was for some girl he barely even knew to try and walk up to him and give him something that he really had no use for. The whole idea just seemed silly to him.
He turned down a less populated street, steering away from the crowd as much as he could until he figured out a destination for his wandering. He resisted going to the roof like he always did, simply because that's where he always went. Anyone who wanted to find him there would be able to, so that wasn't where he wanted to be right now.
Footsteps behind him and the scent of flowers and Shikamaru sidestepped into an alleyway just as they followed him around the corner, going out of sight just in time. He turned back to see Ino racing past him, a small batch of flowers in her hand. Who was she after? She couldn't have been looking for him…
A second later he heard Sasuke's voice and Shikamaru couldn't help but smirk. When would those troublesome girls learn that Sasuke had no interest in girls? Anyone should have been able to tell, really, it was obvious. Ever since that day when Sasuke and Naruto had accidentally kissed in class, the two were impossible to pull apart. Had it been a girl and a guy everyone would have lumped them as a couple immediately, no matter who they appeared to fight. But since they were two guys most of the girls simply counted the happy little blond out of the equation and still tried to win Sasuke's affection.
"Stupid," he muttered, scratching the back of his head and going back to putting his hands in his pockets. Didn't they know better? Sasuke just wasn't the type to like girls, and that was as plain as his hatred for his brother. Guess denial was bliss.
Ahead of him Shikamaru spotted Naruto looking around, standing by the ramen shop and shifting from one foot to another as he looked at the selection. Obviously he was trying to pick what he wanted with his noodles and for Naruto, that was a big deal. Shikamaru wouldn't have bothered even paying more attention then that, but he noticed another person come up behind Naruto and shyly push one of the ever present box of chocolates into his hand.
Hinata was cute, Shikamaru might have admitted if he was in a good mood, but cute in the way that puppies were when they were first born. Cute in the way that cats rolled over and begged you to scratch their stomachs so they could purr. She was cute in a non-troublesome way, but beyond that there were troubles. She was shy, overly shy, toward every one and thing. True, she could fight when she put her mind to it, but her shyness was her biggest weakness.
And, the way that she was blushing and stuttering at Naruto right now as she tried to give him the chocolates was even more troublesome. Had Shikamaru been in Naruto's shoes he probably would have shrugged it off and walked away quickly. But Naruto seemed happy and ate one of the chocolates, which seemed to completely make her day. All right, maybe he'd been wrong. Maybe she wasn't really that troublesome… least not when she was so easily pleased.
Shikamaru glanced up at the skyline and blinked. That was the perfect place, it just occurred to him. No one sat up near the Hokage's faces. No one would ever bother him up there, and it probably even had a better view of the clouds then the roof. Shikamaru considered for a second, then turned his steps and headed in that direction, leaving the happy Naruto and blushing Hinata behind. Idly, for a moment, he wondered if Naruto would sneak off and attempt to share the chocolates with Sasuke…
He passed many others as he walked, doing his best to side step each of the respective couples in their pursuing whatever exactly this troublesome holiday meant. He saw Iruka sneaking something that looked like a book into Kakashi's mail box. He saw Ino passing on the flowers Sasuke had rejected to Sakura, bringing a surprised look to the girl's face. He saw Lee trying to brag about his boxes of chocolate he'd received, while Neiji tried to quickly walk away. And he saw Guy doing almost the exact same thing to Kakashi, while the infamous copy-ninja just read his little perverted book.
He still didn't see the point of it all, and by the time he'd reached the path climbing up the side of the mountain he was very happy to have found a place to himself.
But he wasn't alone.
Shikamaru blinked as he stepped up into the small clearing next to the faces, surprised, of all things, to find Chouji sitting there eating his chips as always.
"Hey!" Chouji waves to him and smiled, then munched more on his chips.
How fitting, really. Chouji must have guessed that Shikamaru wouldn't go to the roof today, not with all the people who might foolishly try and bother him. So apparently he'd figured out where Shikamaru would try to retreat to. Chouji only seemed to be lucky to the others who assumed that his mass was in proportion to his stupidity. In reality Chouji was quite smart and even figured out some of Shikamaru's best strategies… he just never admitted it to anyone.
"I thought you'd sneak up here." He said, confirming Shikamaru's thoughts. "Either that, or if I sat up here, I could see what roof you went to."
Shikamaru barely resisted the small smile that was begging to cross his face as he sat down on the grass next to Chouji like always, leaning back to look up at the clouds. "I just didn't want to have to deal with all the troublesome girls today."
Chouji nodded and went back to eating his chips, the familiar crunching sound somehow making watching the clouds more peaceful. Shikamaru would never understand it, but cloud watching always seemed more peaceful with Chouji sitting next to him.
"Want some?"
Shikamaru glanced over, expecting Chouji to be holding out his ever-present bag of chips to share, but this time it was something else. This time it was one of those bright red boxes that he'd seen all over Konoha in the hands of hopeful girls. Shikamaru blinked and looked at Chouji. Why was he offering him one of those?
"My mom gave it to me, you know, for today," Chouji said quickly.
Oh. Well, then it was ok. It was silly, but for a second Shikamaru had thought otherwise. Sitting up he nodded and opened the box, taking one of the chocolates out. He popped it in his mouth and chewed on it slowly, surprised to find it was caramel flavored on the inside. Each piece seemed to be different and apparently it was supposed to be a surprise as to what was in what.
Shikamaru ate another and realized that Chouji wasn't sharing with him. Chouji wasn't looking at him either. Chouji wasn't even eating his own chips.
These chocolates weren't from Chouji's mother, that much Shikamaru was sure of. Funny though, it wasn't troublesome at all. In fact, exactly the opposite as Shikamaru realized that somewhere along the line that smile had in fact managed to sneak out and was now crossing his face. After thinking for a moment he offered the box over to Chouji.
"Want to share?"
Chouji looked at him, an unreadable look on his face. Shikamaru could tell he was confused by the small smile – because Shikamaru almost never smiled – and he was also trying to tell what Shikamaru was thinking. But Chouji agreed anyway and ate one of the chocolates.
"Thanks, Chouji." Shikamaru said a moment later.
A smile crossed Chouji's face and he nodded, relaxing.
Yeah. These definitely weren't from Chouji's mother. But Shikamaru didn't mind one bit.