Disclaimer: Nothin' but the idea.
Shikamaru in Love?
It all started with a conversation with TenTen. She was just beyond the gates to the Village Hidden in the Leaves near a flower bed. One by one she was plucking the petals off of a daisy. As Shikamaru neared her, he could hear what she was saying. "Neji loves me. . ." A petal fell to the ground. "Neji loves me more." Another petal. Shikamaru watched this peculiar scene for a few moments as she was decreasing in flower petals. ". . .Neji loves me more! I knew it!" TenTen giggled at her so-called 'discovery'.
However, Shikamaru couldn't take the cuteness of the scene before him any longer. "Oi, TenTen." He called out to her from a few paces behind.
"Oh, Neji. . ." She sighed in absolute happiness with the stem of the capacitated flower squeezed in her hands.
"TenTen!" Shikamaru called out again in annoyance. Can anything get through to this troublesome girl? But she just sighed in contentment again and would not allow Shikamaru's persistent calling to ruin her moment. Shikamaru walked right up to her to get her attention. "Oi, TenTen, you troublesome woman; listen!"
TenTen looked utterly surprised that someone was there watching her, and it being Shikamaru at that! "Um, hi, Shikamaru." She said awkwardly.
"TenTen, what were you doing?" Shikamaru asked her. He didn't know why he asked in the first place. Maybe it was curiosity, but he was only beginning to realize how troublesome this girl could really be.
"Oh, nothing." TenTen smiled broadly. "Just checking how much Neji loves me."
Isn't she doing that wrong? Shikamaru massaged his temples. I hate this girl. . . "I thought it was 'he loves me, he loves me not'."
"Well, it is for most people." TenTen tried explaining to Shikamaru. "I already know Neji loves me. So it's a matter of how much."
Shikamaru sighed wondering why he was actually having this conversation. "Does it matter? If he loves you then he loves you."
TenTen wagged a finger in his face. "That's not it." She insisted. "One person can love you, but someone else can love you more. I'm trying to figure out my fate. Does Neji just love me, or does he love me more than other people?"
Shikamaru looked at her skeptically. "And you want me to believe flowers can accurately predict your fate?"
"Well, you're as unromantic as ever!" TenTen exclaimed, however she was not all airhead. She knew where to push people's buttons to get a desired reaction. Shikamaru had no clue what he was in for. "I don't know what Temari sees in you." She said deviously.
Shikamaru sighed in frustration. "You troublesome women! I don't think I'll ever understand you." Shikamaru slowed his speech down so TenTen could fully get the grasp of it. "There is nothing between Temari and me."
TenTen, however, knew this would be his reaction and played with it. She could get him to realize he liked Temari, she just knew it. "And I thought you were a genius. I mean really! How blind can one person be?" TenTen had to smoothly switch the topic so he wouldn't realize what was happening. She knew she could do it. And she did. "By the way, how is she doing in the Hidden Sand Village?"
It worked like a charm. "Oh, she's doing fine. Last I heard from her she—" Shikamaru paused mid-sentence. "Wait a minute! How did you know we were swapping letters?" Shikamaru had just about enough of her. Why does she have to go and meddle in my business. And how did she know about that?
TenTen looked at him slyly. "Oh, I guess you could call it women's intuition. . ."
"Women's intuition, yeah right! Did you force Chouji to tell you?" Again, TenTen had him right where she wanted him. Shikamaru may be smart, but he could never beat a woman who knows what she's doing.
"Okay, Shikamaru. Hold up." She put one of her hands up to stop his ranting. "If these were 'ordinary' letters, you wouldn't be getting so defensive. So what do you write to her about? Eh, Shikamaru?"
Shikamaru was dying. How can I get her off of my personal life, into hers, and make her go away? He had to think, but what? Then it popped into his head. "That's none of your business, TenTen. Ugh, why do women have to be so troublesome? If I knew you were going to interrogate me, I would've sent Naruto to get you." Take the bait, please. Take the bait!
Again, TenTen looked surprised, but she knew what she was doing. "Oh, someone needs me?" She smiled like she had just won the lottery. "Is it Neji?"
"No!" Shikamaru yelled at her and her face drooped. "The Fifth needs you for a mission—" He was cut off mid-sentence by TenTen once again.
"With Neji?" She asked with that same manic smile.
Is this girl Bipolar or what? "Yes! With Neji! So go and leave me alone!" He nearly screamed in her face. But she didn't mind. Everything was going according to plan.
"Hmph. Neji beats hanging out with you any day." TenTen bent down not only to pick a single daisy, but also to hide her smile of triumph. "Oh, here ya go." She handed the daisy to Shikamaru and then she skipped happily away, just far enough where he wouldn't be able to sense her chakra there. She leaned against the back of a tree and watched what Shikamaru would do next.
He looked at the daisy and studied it intimately before finally deciding what to do with it. Instead of dropping it as his instinct told him, he plucked the first white petal off and dropped it. "Temari loves me. . ." Little did he know, TenTen was silently celebrating behind that tree not so far away before she walked off; her thoughts all on Neji.
The End
A/N: I know it isn't long and the wording could be a lot better, but it was a cute idea and this is an old story. I uploaded it on deviantArt, but not on here. As to why, I don't know. I think it's interesting to see what characters who never are never in the same scene would do if they ever were forced to have a conversation. What do you think?
Signed,
Her Sappiness