A/N: I know, I know! It's been a looooong time since I've updated this story. DX But this leads to that, and that leads to this, and I never found the time... *cough*I'mjustlazy*cough* anyway.. heh heh... ^.^' Well anyway, I hope you like this chapter :) Remember! Read and Review! That's what motivates me! Oh yeah, and favorite/follow. Greatly appreciated. Shanks. :D
Disclaimer: *sigh...* I don't...own Naruto... *sob sob* ...or any of the characters... *she says sadly* ...poop. :(
Soon after Shizune arrived with the news that Chouji would be alright, she told me she'd let me know when he could have visitors. I left the hospital, thinking about what my dad said.
…A girl like that? That? What exactly does "that" mean…? The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized that he was right; she wasn't exactly like other girls. She was the toughest, that's for sure. She wasn't into all of that girly stuff, either, like Ino or Sakura. Don't get me wrong, I'm good friends with them, but once they start talking about girl stuff, I'm lost. I guess growing up without a mom, or "womanly figure" in her life, that stuff wasn't very prominent in her life. But she's so weird, sometimes…! I mean, really, I feel like she's bipolar or something… (PMS? I considered that…) She was completely ruthless to Tenten during the preliminaries a long time ago during that first Chuunin Exam. And, not to mention today! She went all killing machine on that Sound girl. But then today in the hospital… she waited with me, didn't make fun of me, or call me a crybaby, and wasn't even really mean. I mean seriously, I CRIED in front of her! And what did I hear from her? Nothing. Nope. None. I mean seriously, what's up with that? Tch, women. Must they be so difficult?
Hn… why am I thinking so much about this? It's not like I actually like her! What was my dad thinking? Attempting to clear out my thoughts, I took the familiar turns through the village that would lead me to my cloud watching hill. It was humid, so the grass was sticky. As I lay down, I felt the familiar, prickly feeling of grass. I closed my eyes and put my hands underneath my head, thinking I could maybe squish in a nap before someone comes calling for me…
Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Sleep decided to skip out on me this afternoon. Sighing, I opened my eyes. Maybe if I couldn't take a nap I'd be able to watch some clouds, just let my mind go blank for a while.
Unfortunately, again, the sky was clear as day. That's right. Not a single cloud in sight. Of course. Agh… this was not my day… My dad's thoughts decided to reemerge from where I attempted to shove them away, and started swirling around in my brain. My eyes closed as I thought back to what he said.
"..let a girl like that walk out…a girl like that…a girl like that…I know what I know. You don't have to get defensive. I know what I saw…"
But what was it? What did he see? I couldn't stand it anymore. I stood up, since the sky decided to be uncooperative with me today, and decided to visit my dad. I sighed, and walked down the little hill towards the greenhouses, which is where I guessed my dad would be, collecting plants and stuff for medicine. I opened the door and was greeted by a huge gust of hot, humid air. But, that's all that greeted me. My dad wasn't here. I signed again, and considered trying to take a nap again, considering all the trouble I was going through to find my pain-in-the-ass dad. I stood there for a second, thinking about what to do. Even just thinking about what I should do was a pain. Ugh… I decided to go look for my dad anyway, as there aren't many possible places he could be.
I checked home, the deer fields, and all the places he liked to hang around. No one had seen him. Geez, this was becoming a pain in the neck. The sun was starting to get lower, so I figured I might as well go home before my mom starts calling for me. As I took the familiar steps towards home, I tried not to think about what he had said, and just let my mind float.
After dinner, I find my dad sitting on the ground outside, looking at the stars. I slide the door open and go out to join him, sitting myself down. "Hey, Dad…" I start to say, but he cuts me off.
"Shikamaru, are you here to ask about what I told you earlier?" Straight and to the point, as always.
"Well…yeah…what did you mean when you said 'I know what I know' and all that stuff..?"
"I'm your father, Shikamaru. I know you very well. Which means, I know how you feel about people by looking how you act around them. Today…you acted different around that Sand girl than around any other girl. I know you like her."
"Dad, I do-" I started to say, when again, he cut me off.
"Shikamaru! Don't lie to me. If you didn't like her, would you have spent all of today looking for me, asking me about this? If you didn't like her, you wouldn't have cared about what I said. If you didn't like her, you wouldn't have come looking for me, asking me what I meant. If you didn't like her, you wouldn't have come out here and sat here next to me having this conversation!"
I had no response to what he said. I could feel my mouth hanging open, as I stared at him. He just sat there, sighing after getting worked up by his mini-speech. I closed my mouth and looked down at the grass. We sat there like that, for several minutes, just the two of us, sitting in silence. He sat looking up at the sky, and I sat looking down at the ground. I heard movement beside me, and looked up to see him standing up and going inside. He said one last thing before going in.
"If you didn't like her, you would've said something in defense to what I just said."
A/N: Well...? You likeeeee? :D Okay review (and rate!) and tell me what you think I should put in coming chapters...characters you'd like to see...stuff you'd like to happen.. yadda yadda yadda... I consider all of these things into my writing! You peoples are what motivate me to continue! *heroic stance*