A/N: Everyone, thank you for the reviews! I hope this chapter won't disappoint you ;)
Now, this one is special. Why? Because OVER 50 fanfiction members added me to their favorite authors list! THANK YOU, MINNA-SAN! I can only promise I'll do my best and try not to disappoint you.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
This is too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence."How troublesome."
The sentence ended with a dry cough, followed by a sudden sneeze, which Shikamaru didn't bother to block, thus making an army of germs spread freely into his currently empty apartment.
Being sick sucks, the man concluded, leaning down on his pillows again and wincing at the dull pain that throbbed in his throat. Warily, he closed his eyes, feeling a drip of sweat slowly travel from his forehead, down his neck and soaking his already moist shirt. His temperature still hadn't subsided.
The only profit he got from this torment was that he didn't have to work and no matter how much his boss bitched about it, there was nothing he could do. He could finally laze around freely, a fact he gladly took advantage of, by not leaving his bed for two days now, sweating, coughing and sneezing simultaneously and if he could keep it up for about a week, he'll get no working till after Christmas. Genius.
Where the hell is that Naruto?
As a young bachelor (and no plans of changing that in the nearest future), with his parents living on the opposite side of a very large city- at times like this, Shikamaru was pretty much dependant on his so-called friends. His social skills, or rather the lack of such, weren't helping much either, resulting with him having only few, but fully trusted companions from early childhood. Who, by the way, were living in various parts of town, none of them near Shikamaru's apartment.
Just then, the clock struck five p.m., making Naruto exactly two hours late and efficiently wiping off Shikamaru's last bits of hope to avoid death from starvation.
Naruto was in most convenient situation to visit him, seeing he just had to leave the bus few stops earlier when he was coming back from work and even on winter, it's simply impossible for a bus to be two hours late. The option that he was simply held a bit longer in work was even more impossible, seeing that his boss couldn't stand more than the standard eight hours in the hyper blonde's company, without blasting a chair through the window.
Shikamaru bitterly realized that even though his buddy visited yesterday, it looked like today the blonde simply didn't bother. He was already an hour late, not caring if Shikamaru was dying fromstarvation and the lack of medical care or not.
Figures he'd forget about it after a day. Although, you'd think that Sakura, being a doctor and his girlfriend, would make sure that he'd visit an ill pal.
Shikamaru was just about to decide that ramen was, in fact, a really delicious meal and was on the verge of getting up and crawling to the fridge to get a bowl of that (literally) rotten soup, when moment the sound of lock being opened and swiftly closed, echoed in his apartment. Soon, Shikamaru heard the rustling of clothes, obviously dusting off the snow and then thumping of shoes, doing just the same.
Inwardly, Shikamaru sighed with relief and his gaze traveled towards the half-closed door of his bedroom, waiting for the characteristic, spiky orange-yellow hair to pop in, holding a steaming cup of fresh ramen.
And a blonde he got, however, instead of short spikes in an intense sun color, long, light yellowish strands of hair cascaded, few of them gracefully curving on the level of her shoulders the rest falling down till the waist, some in front, some on the back. Big blue eyes stared at him curiously, when the person stepped inside his room, purple coat unzipped, violet scarf loosely hanging of her neck and a dark blue, woolen hat in one hand.
That was all Shikamaru noticed, getting a quick, nevertheless proper look, but it was enough to deduct that the person that just entered his room, wasn't Naruto.
It was an outrageously attractive young woman, around his age.
Her azure orbs made eye contact with his brown ones and she fired off a brilliant smile in his direction. "Hello there. What should I do with the coat and the rest? I left the boots by the door, but I don't know where I could put these, especially since they're all wet..."
"Hang them above the heater in the bathroom." Shikamaru replied automatically and the woman disappeared, leaving him with doubts if she wasn't, by any chance, a delusion created by the high temperature.
Again, the door creaked and the blonde walked in, dressed only in white shirt and tight, fitting jeans, confirming that she was, in fact, one hundred percent real. That friendly smile was still lingering on her face, getting bigger as she neared him.
"Hello again. I'm Yamanaka Ino; Sakura's friend. Neither she nor Naruto can look after you for the next few days, so she asked me to drop in and make sure you're taken proper care of."
"Shikamaru Nara." The man cracked, wincing at the sound of his voice. "Why can't they come?"
"You won't believe it, but Naruto won a three-day trip for two somewhere in the mountains. However, the trip reservation starts today so, if they didn't want to waste the tickets, they had to go real quick. Sakura even called her boss in the middle of the night and luckily, got three days free from work!" Her sentence ended with a small splash and both of them looked down to see Ino's foot right in the middle of small puddle.
"Ugh. Must've been from my coat, when I was standing there. I'll clean it up."
Shikamaru remained silent, watching the blonde go to his kitchen, probably looking for some piece of fabric. He warily observed the happy, energetic spring in her steps as she shuffled around the kitchen, going through every drawer. She made herself at home in no time, alright, he thought, watching the puddle disappear in mere seconds, quickly and efficiently wiped off.
"There." Ino said, satisfied. She looked around a bit, judging his apartment. Her nose wriggled in obvious disapproval. "Boy, this place wasn't cleaned for ages, that's certain."
"I barely have strength to go to the toilet." Shikamaru defended himself, leaving out the information that he never cleaned too often, so it didn't really matter.
"Hmmm..." Ino hummed thoughtfully, slowly sitting down on his bed. "It's true, you don't look very well..."
The low temperature of her fingers made a big contrast to his heated skin and the Nara closed his eyes at the relief when some of the warmth from his forehead traveled to her cold hand. The hunger was immediately forgotten, especially after his heart did few somersaults, thus increasing the flow of blood particularly in his cheeks.
"You have a nasty temperature. Do you take any medicine?"
Shikamaru wordlessly pointed to the table, standing by the bed with small, white box.
Ino picked it up and studied it carefully. "Where did you get this from?"
"Naruto brought it yesterday. He said it was the best medicine ever and I had nothing else, anyway...What? Something wrong with it?"
"Everything, unless you have a hangover. Then it's fine."
Shikamaru blinked, trying to process the date she provided him. "What?"
The blonde handed him the box. "Those are painkillers. Very effective especially for hangovers. You're saying that Naruto brought you this?"
Her companion sank into the pillows, letting out a painful sigh. "Yea."
"So, Sakura was right when she told me that her boyfriend couldn't even take proper care of himself and if it weren't for her, he'd be dead in less then a day." Ino mused, shaking her head a bit. "I really don't know what she sees in that guy."
Another sudden and painful fit of coughing sent Shikamaru to a sitting pose and Ino looked at him sharply, with obvious concern. Her hand sneaked behind his back, supporting him and gently massaging in a feeble attempt to reduce the pain.
"Looks really serious. You sure you don't need to see a doctor?"
"Positive." Shikamaru wheezed, lying down again. "I've been worse, believe me."
Blue eyes eyed him suspiciously and warily, before Ino decided he sounded honest enough to believe. "Wait a bit, alright? I'll be right back." She grabbed her coat, slipped on her boots and she was gone, before Shikamaru could form any protest.
True to her word, Ino came back in less than five minutes, panting heavily and with a small, plastic bag in one hand. She disappeared from his line of sight for a moment, probably going to the bathroom to leave the coat.
"Here." She'd said, handing him a glass of water and some colorful pills. "Swallow it. It should help a lot and you'll be up in no time, trust me."
Shikamaru eyed the pill. "Just now, you went out only to buy it?"
"Well, yes. I don't think you can cure a cold only by painkillers and lying down, ne? And the sooner you start the recovery, the better."
The man obeyed, swallowing the pill and emptying the glass in one, big gulp.
The blonde observed him, calmly waiting until he was finished. She looked around again, taking in the details of his room.
"It looks kinda empty in here, too. I think a few plants would do the trick. Especially with big, intense green leaves...It'd look really nice against the white walls. Haven't you thought of that?"
"No, not really." Shikamaru confessed. "What, are you a professional decorator?"
Ino laughed quietly, a clear, ringing sound. "No. Right now, I'm looking for the perfect job and until I find it, I'm working a part-time job as a florist. I know what magic flowers can do."
His throat wasn't hurting so much anymore. Shikamaru closed his eyes, listening to Ino's voice with caution and trying his best to remember most of it. He really wanted to know her better...And not only because she was probably going to be the only human being he'll see in the next few days.
She paused for a moment. "Sleep is the best medicine." He heard her saying and contemplated, whether he should let her know that he wasn't asleep. He decided against it when a warm blanket went up to his chin, pillows under his head got re-arranged a bit as well. He squirmed a bit, going into more comfortable pose.
"I'll cook you a nice, warm meal and clean up a little, alright? And you just sleep. When you wake up, you should feel much, much better." He felt one of her hands move over his chest, smoothing out the folds while gently tracing it.
She left and Shikamaru let his muscles unwind, nerves relaxing totally. His breathing got slower, deeper with each second and his eyelids got heavier and heavier. He focused one more time on the person shuffling around in his kitchen, his brain already barely hanging on consciousness.
Good thing I chose to make it white; the purple looks really well against it. You know Ino, when you stand in the kitchen like this, you look like someone's young wife...or something...
He let his eyes close totally. The hell am I thinking? Must be the temperature...or that medicine talking...
And that was the last conscious thought Shikamaru had before his brain finally shut down, demanding some decent rest.
When he woke up hours later, Ino was nowhere to see and the only evidence she was there, were a neatly cleaned apartment, the bowl of still-warm noodle soup by his bed and a note, with a promise that she'd be back tomorrow.
A/N: Everyone, what I'm about to write right now is really important. To me, at least.
How to put it...I think I'm having something I'd call a 'writer's depression'. I think my stories are just getting worse and worse, especially when it comes to describing two people fall in love. I just...can't put it right. I think I'm either taking it too fast or just the symptoms are not so clear.
Now, the thing is, I've never been in love. That's not so bad, seeing I'm still only fifteen. Sure, I thought a few times something like 'wow, he's really good-looking!' about guys. However, it wasn't love or close to it. It lasted for few moments, a day at max. So, all my knowledge comes from movies and books. Go figure. So, basically...the point is, in my stories, I need to imagine how it feels like, how we react, how our body reacts (hormones...that stuff.) and so on. As I wrote before, I don't think I'm doing it in the right way. I don't think it sounds realistic at all! Please, review and tell me if I'm doing it alright.
Or maybe I should give up writing until I grow up. I'm still a kid, dreaming about real love right now; and settling for writing romantic stories with my favorite characters from manga/anime. So, tell me what do you think. It's really essential for me to know.
Oh, and I'll try to update this fanfic weekly. I'm planning to finish it this year; last chapter on Christmas, the epilogue on New Year's.