"Stop pretending to be asleep!"

Shikamaru cracked his eyes open and met that same shade of emerald which regarded him with a little bit of fury. He sighed in annoyance, though she paid that no mind. "You managed to unplug yourself from the machine again. Care to have an explanation?"

They stared at each other. He was silent, obviously calculating his response, while Sakura's look of fury shifted. If anyone could look even angrier than what was considered normal, it was her. She looked like she wanted to smack him, but she had refrained from acting out on impulse, so she easily exhaled a soft breath to calm her nerves.

"Shikamaru? Are you going to answer me?"

He growled, "Do I have to explain the fact that I had to go to the bathroom?!"

"You have a cup next to your bed! Why do you need to get up and unplug yourself from the machines to give the nurses a heart attack—"

Their argument had ensued and grew even more heated before Sakura decided she needed to leave the room. He stifled a sigh when the door slammed. Why was she acting like this? He was the one injured and she was acting like his mother! He loved his mother, but she was the only woman who could nag him to death and get away with it. That's when he remembered Sakura always acted out on her emotions.

Even in high school she was… a pain in the ass.

She had been given the role of Class President, which almost stressed her out to the point of her nearly losing all her friends. When he thought about that, a memory appeared in his head, and he recalled the time he found her crying behind the school. It was the spot he usually went to go cloud-gazing or to take a nap while skipping classes. No one ever really noticed his absence, so he wasn't worried about it.

Sakura didn't see him at first—obviously, since she continued to whine into her hands while mumbling how much of an idiot she was. Shikamaru waited patiently and tried to sneak off when he figured things were too loud for her to notice his presence. As soon as he started to leave, he stepped on a stick, and that gave her the realization that he was standing there.

It was awkward. Shikamaru wasn't into comforting females as he always found the attempt to be troublesome. Most females didn't listen and never understood what he was trying to say. When he realized that, everything in his life changed for the better. He never tried helping a girl sort out their emotions again.

But she was giving him that look—one which meant she didn't want him to go. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head and allowed her the chance to vent to him. She never asked for his advice, though he wasn't sure whether to find that to be insulting or not. When she was done, she gave him a slight smile, said thank you, and then left like nothing had ever happened. After that, things between them went back to normal.

It confused him to no end.

Shikamaru continued to sneak to the back of the school to go cloud-gazing and sometimes he would see her there, waiting for him. He wondered if she wanted to lecture him into going back to class, but she never once mentioned it, and they sat there together without bothering one another. They would discuss logical standpoints, fight on debatable subjects, and then would seem like acquaintances after they left that spot. He didn't understand it, though he decided there was no point in questioning things like that.

They remained in touch after graduating high school, but it was mainly through texts or instant messaging. Once he got engaged, they didn't stay in touch anymore, and he always wondered why. He suspected his crazy ass ex-fiancée had something to do with that. When they broke up, Ino badgered him with questions as to why he suddenly didn't want to be her friend anymore.

Amazingly it happened when he popped the question to his ex. That night in fact. She never asked him until they broke up, and he told her it was because of her. He never sent that message, so he it was revealed that he had been hacked by his crazy ex-fiancée. That message was sent to many of his female friends. When his ex-fiancée moved out, he never spoke to her again, and rekindled a lot of his friendships that she broke off.

It was troublesome, to say the least.

That never happened with Sakura though, and he figured it was because she just didn't want to. He could have asked, but never wanted to just in case she was too busy or something else along those lines.

Of course, he never expected it to be because of that abusive boyfriend of hers controlling her every move. Ino had informed him of this one night when they, along with Choji, had dinner together to catch up on certain things. Shikamaru didn't know why it bothered him—didn't know why he cared, but it was there. A part of him wondered why Naruto never interfered. When he asked Ino that, she revealed to him it was because she never told Naruto what was going on to make sure he wasn't harmed.

A few days after that and her boyfriend had dumped her without probable cause. Shikamaru never revealed to anyone what happened.

He made over 100 calculations of what could happen, what could go wrong, and how things would play out in the end. He asked one of his underground friends to hack into his systems, send warnings, and proposition him into wanting another female. She was beautiful—ruthless, and Shikamaru almost felt bad for what he had done until he realized he saved Sakura's life.

The next time he saw her, she looked like she had seen better days. Sakura was still beautiful, but there were black lines underneath her eyes and she looked as though she didn't eat. Shikamaru never revealed himself, but he kept watch on her to make sure that guy never returned.

He didn't. So Shikamaru went back to living his life like he never interfered in hers.

'She has always been too emotional, never logical in most of her actions,' Shikamaru thought, 'Is that why she is so passionate about this?'

As soon as the door opened, Shikamaru looked up, and watched as Sakura showed herself in. She calmly made sure the door was closed behind her before she approached him. She still seemed angry with him for what happened earlier, so he decided not to say anything until she did. She had her stethoscope in her hands and moved to stand next to him.

"We'll go through the usual breathing techniques to make sure the wound isn't prohibiting airways or if there is a sound that doesn't belong," Sakura placed the stethoscope onto his chest, "Breathe in, breathe out." She gave a few more instructions before writing something on her clipboard and turned to leave the room.

He stopped her by grabbing her wrist. That made her look at him in confusion, though she didn't say anything, and simply pursed her lips into a small line. "I'm sorry okay? Usually I wouldn't mind the silence… your nagging can be annoying…" he noticed her look and squeezed her wrist gently, "But you are being quiet and that makes me nervous. So, can you not act like that?"

At first Sakura looked lethal, like she wanted to inject him with a drug to make him pass out and shut up. Once a few minutes passed, a small smile appeared on her lips, "Baka. You know better than to piss off your doctor, don't you? I oversee your stitches and pain medication after all!"

Shikamaru simply chuckled and finally released her wrist, "I can't say I won't be troublesome, but you have to meet me on some common ground here Sakura."

The pinkette sighed and was going to respond until the door opened again, and his parents were rushing in. He was startled when his mother took him into her arms; her eyes overflowing with tears. Shikamaru patted her back awkwardly and watched as Sakura left the room without giving anyone else in the room a chance to notice. Everyone except him at least.

Yoshino pulled back and placed her hands on his cheeks, "Oh Shikamaru, you scared me…" When she was positive that his condition was stable, she had smacked his head gently. "Why the hell would you do this to your family!? You almost made me faint from the stress!"

Shikaku sighed and tugged on his wife's arm, "Be careful woman, you don't want to open his wounds." His eyes turned towards his son who was holding his head in pain. Despite it being gentle, his mother's hits were still tough, "You did give us quite a scare. We were stuck in Yukigakure because of the snow. We almost didn't make it." That reminded Shikamaru that they were on their second honeymoon. Why they chose somewhere cold, Shikamaru would never know, but he decided he didn't actually want to know because it involved him thinking of his parents in a certain way. That was just uncomfortable for everyone involved.

Eventually the pain subsided, and he leaned back, "What a drag," He said with a light sigh, "Don't worry about me. Sakura has been a good doctor." 'Even though she is also crazy and has tried to hit me more than once just for not following the hospital's rules.' That was something else he would have liked to say, but he didn't need his mother making a scene for his sake. He hated to admit it, but Sakura had a point when she said he didn't need to piss her off.

"Well it isn't much but," Shikaku held up a mini Shogi board, "I brought it with me because I knew you would lose your mind being in this hospital." Shikamaru took it after thanking him and felt himself smile. "We also brought some clothes for you, along with bath stuff. I don't know if you noticed, but you don't smell good."

Shikamaru didn't have much else to say to that. Their visit didn't last much longer before Sakura had to shoo them out, so she could change his bandages. He was glad his parents came by but was disappointed when Choji said he couldn't come until the day before he would be released from the hospital. He knew he was stuck in Kirigakure, though he didn't realize the extent of it. He wasn't worried about it. A part of him didn't particularly want visitors to begin with. It seemed to stress out Sakura a little more.

Once she was done, Shikamaru was already messing with the little Shogi board his father had gave him and looked up at her when she was about to leave the room. "Do you want to play?"

Sakura's eyes settled on his face before she looked down at the board in his lap, then back to his face again, which gave their eyes the chance to meet, "That board is a little small. Are you sure we can…?" Shikamaru felt awkward with this question. It didn't help that the Shogi board was in his crotch!

He rubbed his cheek, 'How troublesome.' With a little shake of his head, he moved it forward after straightening out the pieces, and waved his hand towards it; "Are you afraid you will lose? I figured you would be up for the challenge Sakura." He was antagonizing her, and he knew it. He was aware that she had other patients to attend to, but her rounds usually ended around this time, which gave her the chance to relax for at least thirty minutes. He knew he studied her patterns, but there was nothing wrong with that. Right?

She smiled and placed the clipboard onto a nearby table before settling herself into a chair next to the board. She would be able to play like this without interrupting his healing process.

The longer they played, the more it was revealed to Sakura that he knew her moves before she did and counterattacked her every time. Most instances had him saying 'Checkmate' and annoying her to no end. They spoke a few times, though they were both focused on the game, challenging one another with looks, and certain smirks when they collected pieces.

Surprisingly Sakura nearly beat him in this game. Shikamaru was amazed by this, though he didn't show that on his face because he ended up being the victor regardless. She stretched when she stood, and his eyes remained trained on her neck for a moment before he focused back on her face again. "That was fun, but I have to make my rounds again."

She grabbed the clipboard and he spoke before she left the room, "Sakura, is there a chance I can take a shower?"

Sakura snorted, "The only possible way for that is a sponge bath. I don't trust you with that injury."

"I'm 27 Sakura, not 4 years old." Shikamaru responded in annoyance, but that didn't stop his thoughts from wondering towards the area of Sakura giving him a sponge bath. It caused his cheeks to heat up in embarrassment, which he tried shaking away before she could notice.

Sadly, for him, she noticed. However, she chose not to mention it. "All right… I suppose I can trust you enough to shower on your own. I'll return in a few minutes to make sure your stitches are okay."

He nodded and sighed with relief. She turned to leave again, but stopped herself, and turned in his direction; "Shikamaru?"

"… Hm?"

There was a smile gracing her lips and he noticed that she was fidgeting with her clipboard, "Thanks for the game of Shogi. I… it was a nice distraction."

"You're welcome." Shikamaru responded with a smile of his own. She nodded to him before finally leaving the room, but his eyes remained focused on the door for a moment longer. There was something wrong with her, though she had no intentions on confiding in him about it, so he supposed he could put it in the back of his mind for now.

He needed a shower before anything.

Since his parents put it so eloquently that he smelled bad.

'Thanks dad.' He said sarcastically in his head.