Cotton Messages

Author: AnimaAmore

Characters: Shkamaru Nara, Sakura Haruno

Genres: General, Romance, Friendship

Fanfic Type:

Full Summary: There are a thousand ways for a boy to let a girl know he loves her; most of which are presented in the form of gifts. Traditional gifts include chocolate. Flowers. Jewelry. Dinner. Clothing. Poetry. Music. A teddy bear. But a little-known, unorthodox way of professing one's love is with the cotton clouds that adorn the sky.

Rating: K

Disclaimer: Characters and world belong to Masashi Kishimoto. This plot, however, is mine.

Author comments: Not my favourite couple ever, but I like them. I think they compliment each other well. A little fluff is always appreciated.

Cloud gazing was something that Konoha's genius Shikamaru Nara was an absolute expert in. Truthfully, he might like cloud-watching better than playing shogi. He enjoyed watching the puffy cotton-like masses float lazily in the sky, without a care in the world; neither caring what went on the world below nor where they were going.

Shikamaru felt like he could sympathize with the clouds. Sometimes the world was too troublesome to bother with. So he set himself simple, pleasurable goals that required little and, while not giving vast amounts in return, gave enough to assure him happiness.

"All I want," he was known for saying, "is to become an average ninja, not too bad but not too strong; get an average job, not rich but not poor either; marry an average wife who can't be too ugly or too pretty, have a kid or two, and live an average life into a good age." That statement alone of his life's goals pretty much summed up the boy known as Konoha's genius.

Once, while he had finished reporting his team's mission and his teammates had gone their separate ways, he made his way to a flowery hill on the other side of the village, far from the ruckus and buzz of the people, and laid down on the long, green grass. He folded his arms behind his head after tucking a toothpick between his lips, and settled in comfortably to enjoy his favourite pastime. He could spend hours in quiet contentment that way. But this particular day, only an hour or so after he settled down, a familiar sound of soft footsteps brushing the grass was picked up by his trained hearing. Knowing who it was without looking, he merely continued to gaze up into the sky.

"Hi."

Shikamaru slowly rolled his head, somewhat reluctantly, from staring straight up to a small angle so he could see the person who'd come visit him from the corner of his eye. "Sakura," he greeted with a small nod.

"Cloud-watching again?" the young teen girl asked with a small, amused smile as she sat calmly beside the lazy genius.

"No, I'm contemplating the meaning of life."

She quirked a pink eyebrow at him, though the gesture was missed as he'd returned his attention back to the sky. "Really, now. Is the answer up there?" She tilted her head up and covered her eyes from the sun with one hand as the other held on to her propped up knees.

"Always."

Sakura was silent as she kept her eyes on the clouds above, thoughtfully attempting to find any traces that may prove her fellow ninja's words. It may sound like nonsense, at first, but people found answers in the most unexpected of places; plus Shikamaru had been doing this for a long time. For all she knew he really had found something in the heavens, and curious as a cat, she tried to find what it was.

Shikamaru sighed contently. The sun was out, warming everything with the gentlest of touches; not too warm but not too cold either – it was average, and he liked average. And today, the clouds were moving playfully, although to the restless, impatient eye (like Naruto) they looked like always, but he knew better. Today, the clouds were moulding themselves into shapes, briefly giving a picture of anything before dispersing and reforming again into another dream.

"I don't have any questions," Sakura mumbled after awhile, "so I can't find any answers." She lowered her hand and looked down at the boy beside her. "Tell me what you see."

Shikamaru grumbled about the interruption, mumbling about how troublesome women were, but he complied nonetheless. He gestured for her to lay down like him, and once she did so beside him, with her hands intertwined over her belly, he gestured at a cloud to the east.

"That can be an answer."

"Is it?" She squinted her eyes, studying it carefully before she shook her head. "I can't read it."

"Reading clouds is different," he agreed. "The thing is that the answer changes with every individual. Your answer is what you perceive." He lifted his hand and covered her eyes, letting a few heartbeats pass before removing it. "What do you see?"

She looked at the cloud again, her green eyes taking in the cloud that had slightly shifted since she last looked at it. She opened the gates of her mind and allowed it to take control of the image of the cloud, supplying shades and outlines to the once formless mass of cotton. She smiled.

"A cow."

"A cow?"

"A cow," she affirmed. "See that wisp there? That's the tail. See how there's a smaller cloud there, by the upper left bump? That's the head and shoulder blade. And that small puff there? That's the udder." She giggled. "That's a soon-to-be-momma cow."

Shikamaru hummed, tilting his head slightly as he contemplated the cloud-turned-cow. It did actually look like a cow. But then again… "I think it looks like lasagne." That earned him a playful punch to the shoulder. "Ouch! What was that for, you troublesome woman?" he asked as he rubbed his abused shoulder.

"Oh, quit making a fuss; it was only a small tap. And you deserved that. I just said it looks like a cow, and then you go and call it a plate of lasagne."

"So?"

"So, lasagne has beef in it, which comes from cattle. You just made my cow into Choji's dinner!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at her melodramatic statement, but couldn't help but let out a quiet chuckle as he resettled on the grass. A minute latter, a soft prodding on his arm made him glance at his pink-haired companion.

"So, what do those two answers mean?" the girl shyly asked. He allowed a small smile to grace his lips before he answered.

"It means we're hungry," he simply said, earning him another smack; this time on the chest. "Ow! Seriously, what is it with you women and hitting?"

"Answer me seriously!"

He shot her a dirty look as he rubbed the area where she'd hit him, and closed his eyes, refusing to answer her. Let her learn that punches don't get her anywhere with him. A moment latter, the soft prodding was back.

"Shikamaru?"

He ignored her.

"Shikamaru?"

Ignore.

"Shika?"

This time he opened one eye and used it to look meaningfully at her. She giggled and brushed the hair out of her eyes as her green eyes, shinning with mirth, caught his doe-like ones. "I'm sorry, Shika. Don't be mad. I promise I won't hit you again, alright? Just tell me. Pretty please?"

He gave her an unimpressed look before sighing out how troublesome she was and how he didn't know how he put up with her sometimes. Sakura smiled at him because she knew he didn't mean it, at least not in a snobbish mean way. He turned his whole head so both his eyes were looking straight at her, and he answered.

"Fine, let me rephrase that. I'm hungry for some decent food since I was away on a mission to the middle of nowhere. You are going to find a pleasant surprise, presumably sometime soon."

"How do you figure?"

"Cows symbolize humility, feminine power, possibility, and new beginnings among some other things. The fact that the cow you saw is about to become a mother drives home the points of possibility and new beginnings. And since a newborn, whatever the species, always brings joy, then the new beginning will make you happy."

Sakura stared at him in awe, both at his knowledge (because really, knowing he's a genius and experiencing his genius are two quite different things although this particular case was not exactly the best example of his mind's capabilities) and the hope that his words held. Her eyes sparkled with childish wonder and, in one simple word, she dictated the rest of their day.

"More."

So Shikamaru obliged. He pointed out new clouds to her, and after carefully studying it, she would announce what it looked like to her before he took his turn. True to her word, she didn't smack him again, although from the corner of his eye he could see her hand twitch every now and again at something he said. The sky revealed to them a flower turned flattened spider, a dragon turned sports car, a salt shaker turned urn. And for all of those images, Shikamaru dutifully informed her of what the sky had proclaimed for each of them.

Hours later, with the sun tainting the sky reds and pinks, the duo stood up from the positions on the ground and stretched their limbs, humming in appreciation much like a cat when he stretches after a good rest. Sakura sighed blissfully as the cool night air flowed peacefully around them, making the leaves on the trees rustle and the flowers at their feet dance. As she enjoyed the breeze, Shikamaru took a moment to study his female companion thoughtfully, realizing that he got along quite well with her.

She's no beauty queen, he though to himself, but she's pretty. Above average, certainly.

She turned towards him and gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks for today, Shika. I learned a lot."

Well above average smarts. She can make a decent conversation.

"Not a problem. It was nice having you here… Aside from the unjust smacks." Troublesome, but less so than others.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You deserve them and you know it." He shrugged.

He looked up at the sky one more, more out of habit than looking for a particular shape, but one cloud nonetheless caught his eye. "Hey, Sakura? What does that cloud there look like to you?"

Sakura's eyes followed the path his finger pointed, and she tilted her head as she made out the strange shape. After a pause, she said, "A pair of hearts." She quickly glanced at her watch and said she had to leave. "Are you coming, Shika?" He shook his head.

"I want to enjoy the sunset. It looks like a pretty good one today."

"Yeah, it does. I wish I could also watch it, but I have to get home before it gets too late and my parents start to worry."

"How troublesome… I can send you a picture of it if you want. My mission required a camera and I still have it in my pocket." He took out a tiny round camera, the kind used for espionage, out of his pocket to prove his words. She beamed at him.

"That would be great! Thanks so much, Shikamaru!" She enveloped him in a quick hug before she was off, jogging down the hill back towards the village. "Just send it to me when you can; I know how troublesome it is for you when someone gives you deadlines," she called over her shoulder. His mouth twitched at the corners at her light teasing.

As she disappeared from view, he hummed, deep in thought. A pair of hearts, she'd said. That was also what he had seen. He looked up, and where before there were two hearts, now there was one large heart, the shadows caused by the sunset faintly revealing that the large heart was the joining of two smaller ones. Without thinking much about it, Shikamaru took a picture of the cloud – a sharp contrast against the red, red sky – and left, following Sakura's trail.

Maybe sending her the picture soon wouldn't be so troublesome, he thought. Just average troublesome.

FIN