Shizuka grew up in the leaf villiage and was lucky enough to be in the same class as the rest of the naruto gang. Shizuka loved Shikamaru's laid back attitude because it is somewhat like her own, so she tended to hang out with him quite a bit. When she graduated from ninja school and became a gennin she became part of his team. Shikamaru and Shizuka both shared a gift for strategy and so worked extremely well together. Their sensei realized that both Shizuka and Shikamaru were extremely smart so he started both of them on a game called shogi to help develop your strategic abilities. Since he could never beat either of them he decided it would be a good idea to have his two talented strategists challenge each other and because they were both so intelligent sometimes these games would go on for hours.
One day Shizuka decided to go out for a walk, trying to avoid having to do any training because that would take to much effort and today was far to beautiful to waste on something so tiring. As she was walking she looked up at the clouds drifting giving each a shape until she tripped over something falling to the dirt. A loud groan surprised her and brought a blush of embarrassment to Shizuka's face. She quickly looked over to see who she had tripped over, and saw a disgruntled Shikamaru laying in the grass wincing and holding his stomach. "What a drag...I was just about to fall asleep and someone trips over me, just my luck..."
"I am so sorry, I was just watching the clouds and I kinda forgot to look where I was walking..." Shizuka sighed and shrugged apologetically. Apologies take so much energy...sigh*
"Whatever...so do you want to play a game of shogi later?" he questioned lazily.
"If I feel like it, but if I do you are so totally going to lose." Shizuka respond with equal lack of energy and then motioned to the grass beside him. "So do you mind if I join you?"
"Whatever..." If Shizuka didn't know him so well she would have thought he could have cared less but she did and because of this she caught the almost smile as it flickered across his lips and grinned before lying down in the grass next to him. She watched the clouds drift by in a lazy stupor, just enjoying being able to kick back and enjoy a comfortable silent companionship between Shikamaru and herself that no one else would understand.
A loud shout jarred Shizuka from her dream like state and without speaking both Shizuka and Shikamaru jump up and head toward the noise. As she ran she could hear a faint, "Such a drag..." and a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth despite the confusion. They came up to a group of leaf ninja in full gear and Shikamaru asked, "What is going on?"
One of the sensei responded, "The village is under attack by Orochimaru, I want you, Shikamaru, to head up team Kakashi, because he is already fighting and be our backup, and you Shizuka are going to come with me." With a quick wave to Shikamaru Shizuka took off following the sensei. "We are going to head towards the main group attacking the wall from behind." the sensei informs her as they run.
When they reached the wall Shizuka could see about seven skilled foreign ninja trying to destroy the wall. She motioned to the sensei, "Ok so there are seven of them, can you run in and catch their attention and meanwhile I am going to catch them in my Genjutsu, but I can only get them if they don't suspect it, I think I can catch three of them at once which means they will be down indefinitely depending on their skill of breaking Genjutsu." The sensei nods her assent then jumps into action.
While she pulls their attention Shizuka strikes from the shadows, and with a huge amount of luck is able to catch four of the seven in her Genjutsu and they begin swinging around wildly totally unaware of anything around them. Knowing that the ninja will strike at her next she quickly uses a replacement jutsu and hides in a nearby tree. Shizuka evaluates the situation, it is now three ninja against two, but she has already used a large amount of chakra so now she will have to move carefully. She knows that she has access to three paper bombs, and a series of other weapons which she quickly evaluates and tries to formulate a plan. From her spot in the trees she tosses down two paper bombs and with another replacement jutsu drops to the ground to assist the sensei.
Careful to use the flailing ninja in the genjutsu to her advantage Shizuka places herself on the opposite side of the clearing so that the trapped enemy ninja create a barrier between herself and the foreign ninja who still pose a threat. She winces when she sees a fire style, fire ball jutsu heading straight for the now injured sensei. Quickly Shizuka tosses out her last paper bomb to keep the second ninja from attacking and catches the third in a weak genjutsu, it was the best she could summon up while flying through the air towards the sensei. Shizuka threw up a wall of earth between the sensei and the fire ball. Now panting and bleeding from a cut on her arm she ran for cover pulling the sensei behind her leaving two water clones behind her of herself and the sensei. I better end this quickly my chakra is running very low... sigh*
From watching the other ninja while the sensei was fighting him she could see that he tends to leave his right side open when he thinks that he has the upper hand, and she smiled because she knew that this is something she could use to her advantage. The third ninja had not been able to break the genjutsu, this also brings a smile to her face. Now there are only two left... Using some of the last of her chakra she uses one last very weak genjutsu to throw off the two ninja then lets the sensei quickly incapacitate both with two well aimed kunai. Shizuka smiled breathing had when suddenly the ground around her exploded and sent her flying. With a crash she hit her head against a tree and her vision went red and she could feel something hot and sticky run down her face. The world blurred then fades in and out of this woosy world of black and light.
Shizuka woke up in the hospital, the stark whiteness of it jarring and leaving her slightly confused. She slowly took in her surroundings trying to figure out what happened. She could feel someone squeeze her hand and Shizuka turned her focus towards the pressure. Sitting in the only chair is a disheveled Shikamaru fast asleep. She smile wearily wondering why he was there, then she heard Sakura's voice, "Don't move, it will still take you about a week to fully heal and I am not letting you leave that bed for at least four days. You hit your head pretty hard, plus you used up all of your chakra."
"Thank you Sakura, sorry for being such a bother..." Shizuka sighed, then smiled, "This is going to be such a drag..."
Sakura giggles then smiles, "Speaking of which Shikamaru hasn't left your side since he rescued you, and I have never seen him that determined before...just thought you should know." Surprised she looked back at Shikamaru examining him slightly confused. A warm feeling flooded through her causing her to blush, and a slight grin that she could not suppress lit up her face. She heard the door click shut as Sakura left. The sound is just enough to jolt Shikamaru from his sleep.
He shakes his head then looks over at her his face showing concern and she smiled weakly back, "Hey..."
"Man, this is such a drag you being stuck in the hospital..." he sighs then his face becomes more serious, "Don't you ever do something stupid like that ever again, I thought you were going to die..." Of course he couldn't leave it there trying to cover up the fact that he actually cared, he added, "Then I would have to find another person to play shogi against and there is no one as good as you, that would be such a drag..."
"I will take that as a compliment..." Shizuka smiled at him and tried to sit up but end up gasping and wincing in pain. He was up so fast she didn't even have time to be surprised as he gently supported her into a sitting position. Shizuka looked up at him and blushed, her face literally only an inch from his. She watched his eyes, they are calculating but there is a strange warmth in them that she has never seen before. With her brain still slow and befuddled from her injuries she has no time to figure it out because, he suddenly closes the distance between them pressing his lips to hers.
The kiss is warm and slow, almost lazy, and she leans into the kiss savouring the feeling. There is no rush in his movements, he carefully and gently cups her face with his hand and supports her back with the other pulling Shizuka in close. With the same gentle touch she reaches up and strokes his face. She smiles and can feel him smiling through his kiss, finally though he pulls away then rubs the back of his neck with a wistful smile.
"Women are so troublesome, its such a drag..." but he is still smiling when he says it and she smiles back. Then he sighs and slides onto the bed with her gently placing his arm around Shizuka and absently stroking her arm. They both fall asleep in each others arms.