Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I do own Kumi, though.

Warning: possible rating changes for each chapter.

Rating for this chapter: T (but I could be wrong. Shikaku's thoughts are pretty bad. Nothing too dirty this time, though. Warn me if I'm wrong.)

Author's note:

Sooo, I've been working on the next chapter of All Things Are Difficult Before They Are Easy and Until Forever Quietly Slipped Away when I got bored. This prompt was written during my boredom. I hope it pleases you guys!

(YES! YES! There it is! A Shikaku/Kumi scene - the long awaited scene - the one you've been bothering me for ages for! BROWNIE POINTS FOR ALL!)

LAST WARNING: this story isn't necessarily connected to the original All Things Are Difficult Before They Are Easy. This one-shot doesn't mean that things will progress this way in this exact timeline. It's only a prompt by a very nice reviewer. Just enjoy, seriously.

Point of view: Shikaku's.


All Things: Side Stories

By Amaryllis D. Namikaze


Chapter 2:

The Interruption


Prompt:

- StrawberryObsession:

It might be good to set one in the beginning stages of some sort of romantic relationship between Shikaku and Kumi where things are still a little uncertain and shaky. Have Kumi be jealous for some reason or another and Shikaku can't help but feign ignorance and let him stew for a while because he thinks Kumi is just too adorable and lovable before reassuring him.


That's... adorable, I admitted to myself.

Technically speaking, I wasn't the kind of guy who said words such as cute or adorable. Inoichi - or even friendly, kind Chōza - would point and laugh at me if they ever heard me uttering such adjectives. Hell, I'd hit myself if my mind didn't freeze every time I saw my boyfriend's face.

Kumi and I hadn't been going out for what was considered that long of a time - only three months. It was longer than I was used to, though. Most of my flings, because that's what they were compared to my current relationship, were usually ended by me after three or four weeks. I once dated a girl for five days before becoming too annoyed with her attitude.

(Chitarō had said I was too picky. I had told him to shut his trap and eat his fucking dinner. Kindly.)

Had Kumi been any of the other girls I dated, I'd probably be shagging him by now. But he was sweet and somewhat naive. I didn't want to go too fast and end up messing everything up. Not mention his demonic older brother. He'd tear me to pieces if I had sex, or anything close to it, with his fifteen-year-old sweetheart.

Kumi, however, was making it difficult for me by acting so damn cute every time we met each other. He was totally clueless about our surroundings - which was nice, in a way, since it meant he was paying attention to me - and didn't notice any of the looks he attracted while we were in public. I certainly noticed.

(Coincidentally enough, it also was nice to know that I was feared.)

This day in particular, he won the prize for Cutest of the Year. He'd just gotten back from a mission with his tea, looking tense and worried, which I attributed to the new dynamics he'd told me about before. I decided to treat him to tea and any kind of sweet he wanted, as Kumi had the biggest sweet tooth I'd ever seen.

I had thought, like an idiot, What can go wrong?

We hadn't seen each other in a couple of weeks. I missed his body heat during my afternoon naps. A date would get us in the right mood and I honestly didn't mind entertaining him for awhile, as long as he kept smiling and shit.

(God, he made me such a sap.)

Things are never this simple.

"We wrapped it up quicker than we thought," Kumi was telling me, his eyes sparkling in happiness at the traditional sweets in a plate. He stopped for a moment, thinking. "Chita broke his right wrist, though. It looked painful."

I patted his head from my seat on the other side of the low table. He seemed genuinely upset, which was all that surprising. Kumi took things too personally. I always told him to relax and let everything fall into place.

"Chita is most likely enjoying the small break this will give to your team," I said, chuckling at the thought of my brother dead asleep in his bedroom. Yep, the jerk was probably taking advantage of the leave you'd get when injured.

Kumi smiled at me, "You don't look worried."

I snorted.

"Chitarō can take care of himself, of that I'm sure. You, on the other hand," I said, pointedly looking at the recently-made stitches over his eyebrow.

He startled.

"Ah, this? Huh, it was nothing really. Doctor-san even said that this wouldn't even leave a scar."

I sighed, "As if I was preoccupied with scars. I want to know how it happened, stupid."

Kumi blushed until the tips of his hair. I laughed at him embarrassment. His face was too endearing when red.

"Shikaku?" A female voice called me from my right, sounding surprised with a hint of happiness.

I inwardly groaned. Great. Just what I needed. Someone interrupting my date.

Kumi looked at me questioningly, no doubt having noticed my distress. For someone so clueless about others' reaction to him, he sure was perceptive when my mood changed.

I glanced at my right, taking into account the woman standing beside our table. She was pretty decent with her dark brown hair and hourglass figure. Her personality, though, I thought to myself, remembering where I'd seen her face before. An ex. An ex-girlfriend was seriously interrupting my date.

(That's the part where Inoichi annoyingly says I'm head over heels in love. Shut up.)

"Shikaku, I haven't seen you in so long," she said, bending down to deliver a kiss a couple of centimeters beside my mouth. My immediate reaction was to glance at Kumi, too see if he was distressed because he was such a crybaby, but he seemed well enough.

"Amaya," I sighed.

I found my eyebrow ticking when she sat with us around the low table without being invited. Hiki Amaya was one of those irritating civilians girls - nice to look at, detestable to talk with. I'd gone out with her for one week or something almost two years ago, but her tendency to be annoying was remarkable enough to still remember her.

Amaya turned her eyes to Kumi, who was eating the last two chrysanthemum-shaped wagashi. I noticed the exact moment her expression became sour. Her lips twisted downwards, making her usually tolerable features turn into an ugly grimace. My eyes narrowed.

"And who is this?" She asked, clearly directing her question towards me, as if Kumi was too little to comprehend our conversation.

This was one of these moments I wished Kumi would be more proactive instead of shy, if only to show one up other people. But there was nothing I could do about. And it wasn't of his personality to be mean to others, anyway.

"Namikaze Kumi," I answered in a clipped voice. I knew Amaya well enough to know that this wouldn't satisfy her, but I frankly didn't care.

"Oh, little cousin?"

I rolled my eyes. I knew - and she did too - that Kumi couldn't be a cousin of mine. Everyone directly related to the Nara clan was dark-haired. Even the families descended from my clan were full of brunettes. Kumi, with his golden-platinum hair and kaleidoscope-gray eyes, wouldn't ever manage to pass for a Nara. Thank God, too.

"My boyfriend."

A shocked silence. I could imagine what was going through her head. Homosexuality was common, of course, but not really among clan heirs. We had to produce more heirs and keep our line alive. Male lovers would always be that in the public's eyes - lovers.

Amaya seemed to have reached the same conclusion, for she stretched her upper body toward me. Her low cute shirt was a size too small.

"Would you like to meet up again another day?" She threw a smirk at Kumi. "Alone, perhaps?"

As she had her entire body in my direction, she couldn't see the way Kumi's doe-like eyes narrowed. I teased him all the time for being incapable of properly glaring at people, especially since his older brother's glare was terrifying, but I'd obviously never seen this face of his. It was as if he could set anyone aflame with his eyes only.

This made me more excited than I cared to admit.

"You know," Kumi finally opened his mouth. His tone was light and innocent. "All the make-up and clothes in the world won't change what an ugly person you are."

Amaya froze in surprise, before starting to foam at the mouth. I stayed silent, trying to control my laughter like I never had before. How I loved Kumi's sassy side - it was a pity I didn't get to see it more often.

"Look here, little boy, this is between me and Shikaku. You're his boyfriend," she mocked, "but I bet you're just a toy. What he needs is a woman who can take care of his needs and give him an h-"

I interrupted her saying, putting a hand in front of her mouth, though not directly touching her. It had been fun and all to see Kumi's jealous side, since I was the one to get possessive all the damn time, but I didn't need this to end in tears. I really didn't need to have a girl telling my boyfriend that he couldn't give me an heir.

(As if I hadn't noticed he was a boy and had a dick. Frankly.)

"I'd tell you to go fuck yourself, but I'm sure you'd disappointed," I told Amaya almost in a whisper. Not because I'd rather not be seen as the Nara heir causing a scene, but because I couldn't stand shouting even when angry. If I started irrationally screaming during a fight, I'd never end up right.

Amaya's face got so red - from shame or rage, who knew? - that I was surprised she didn't explode right then. Huffing, trembling in anger, she got up and walked away. Except for the couple beside our table, no one in the small café seemed to have noticed our brief discussion.

I glanced at Kumi. He was looking at the empty plate with a guilty expression.

"Hey," I called.

"Sorry," he said, playing with the napkin. "I, I don't what came over me."

As his eyes were decisively looking away from my face, he didn't see the way my lips twisted up at this. There were times I wished my boyfriend was a little less shy, yes, but - at the end of the day - I'd always have him the way he was. He was a crybaby, but he was my crybaby.

(And damn Inoichi if he said one more time that I was too possessive. I was the boyfriend of the cutest guy in the village.)

"Hey," I called again, holding his chin up, "I didn't say anything."

He frowned, confused.

"But she was your ex-girlfriend, right? I, I mean," he stammered when my eyebrows shot up. So he had noticed. Well, Kumi was innocent, not an idiot. "What if you broke up but remained friends? I'd feel bad if-"

I chuckled, effectively stopping his excuses.

"Believe me - none of my ex-girlfriends would ever wish to remain friends with me after I told them to leave me alone."

"But she seemed willing enough to get back together," Kumi murmured - almost thunderously, I might add. His cheeks were red in embarrassment, but his nose was scrunched up in irritation.

Don't laugh at his cute face, I told myself. He'd only get more embarrassed.

"And who cares what she wanted? I'd never get back together with a harpy like her," I reassured him. A smirk took up my face when I stretched across the table, whispering smugly, "I don't need anyone else when I can have your adorableness all to myself."

His face, if it was possible, got even redder. He lightly hit my hand over the table.

"Shikaku!" Kumi reprehended.

"What? It's true."

"Don't say such things in public."

"I will do much worse things in public if you keep being this cute."

He remained silent, trying to look everywhere except my face. I couldn't help it - I laughed.

Yep, too adorable.

(Though help me if Inoichi said one more thing...)