Exhaustion: A ShikamaruXNaruto Story
Shikamaru sighed as he sunk onto a bench to stare at the clouds like they had an answer to his ongoing dilemma: the unending cycle of events that kept him exhausted all the time. Namely the missions and the ever- present group of fans and suitors.
At least they left him alone when he watched the clouds. He 'harrumphed'. They probably think I'm daydreaming about someone 'special'. Then he blinked and widened his eyes a little bit. 'That was it!' he thought 'That was the answer. If he just got someone who wasn't really interested in dating him to pretend to date him, they would leave him alone!'
It was so simple that he just sat there for a moment in amazement at the solution. Then he thought 'But whom? Who could I get to pretend to date me?'. He considered Chouji but discarded that idea quickly. 'No, I wouldn't want to ruin a good friendship to rid myself of a group of stalkers.'
He searched among the clouds pursing his lips. 'Hmmmmm…. Everyone seemed to want him with Tenten' He rolled his eyes. 'Those who didn't want him for themselves' he added to that thought. 'but Tenten would probably laugh at his dilemma and call him a silly boy for wanting to 'fake date' either that or take offense that he would only think of her as a solution to a problem. So she was out.'
He sighed. 'How did my simple solution turn out to be so hard?' Then a cloud got his attention. 'It looks just like Naruto's insignia. The one on that jacket he always wears.' He watched it for a while until it changed into another shape, but now his mind was working. Naruto doesn't take undue interest in me. He would probably be glad to have someone take an interest in him and go along with his plan quite nicely….WHAT WAS HE THINKING!! Naruto? That outcast?' The thought of it! 'Why not?' Another part of him argued. 'He's a very logical choice and he will definitely solve the problem. You may even help him make some friends.'
He thought about that for a while and decided that it was true – and Naruto was probably his best shot anyway. He sighed and got up to go search the boy out. He found him in the practice grounds utterly exhausted and laying flat on his back in the middle of some practice dummies panting. 'I didn't know he tried so hard.' Shikamaru thought, staring at Naruto's well muscled body in shock. 'He always acts like such a clown, like he doesn't care about what's going on as long as he can get some laughs out of it.'
"Are you through staring?" came a tired but angry voice from the ground. Shikamaru blinked then flushed, "Sorry, I was just surprised is all. I thought you were a slacker like me and a clown, but you actually train a lot more than everyone else, don't you?" Naruto looked up at him. "So what if I do?" he asked hopping up and grabbing his jacket, shoving his arms into the arm holes. "What did you want?"
Shikamaru looked away in embarrassment. He hadn't thought this part out. Finally, he just came out with it and said, "I kinda wanted to ask a big favor…." Naruto tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "What kind of favor and why would you want to ask me?" Shikamaru fiddled with his sleeves. "You are the only one I could think of that might actually do it." He explained delaying the answering of the first part for now.
"Oh?" Naruto went around collecting his kunai and shuriken from the dummies. "And what, exactly, would I be doing?" He asked pointedly. Shikamaru blushed and leaned in close to whisper in the other boy's ear. "I want you to pretend to date me, so I can get rid of all the other people who are trying to get me to date people I don't want to date."
Naruto listened to all this in silence then looked at him in a weird way. "And you thought of me." He stated looking like he was trying to figure something out. "Why?" he asked finally.
"Because you don't care about what I do and I don't think you would try to get any closer to me if—", he blushed "we were together that way." He didn't mention that he thought it would help Naruto make friends or at least help him to stop being ignored and spurned. Naruto was watching him "So, what do I get out of this?" he asked "So far it looks like you are the only one getting anything from this deal."
Shikamaru looked up at him. "If you accept, I will become your practice partner and help you learn better control over your chakra. How does that sound?" Naruto grinned. "You got it!" he answered and held out his hand. "Let's shake on it." Shikamaru took his hand and they shook, making it official, then they smiled at each other.
"So, how does this work exactly?" Naruto asked the other. Shikamaru smiled, letting go of Naruto's hand and kissing him softly. "Truthfully? I'm not really sure." He admitted to the shocked Naruto.