RE-edited
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Chapter 7
"I don't know how much more of this I can take!" I complained, falling backward onto my bed.
It had been three weeks since Shikamaru and I started working together. About a week into our progress, Lady Tsunade convinced the elders to give us full access to the Uchiha archives, since then, Shikamaru and I have been little worker bees, jumping on any information we could find about the Sharingan. After almost a month of hard work, we finally finished compiling our theories. We had even started to prepare to test them.
"Why don't you just save yourself the trouble and jump him already?" Ino laughed, flicking her hair over her shoulder.
"Seriously, Sakura, do you not see the way that man looks at you? He's practically begging you to do it with that smolder of his."
"You're just saying that," I mumbled, hugging my pillow to my chest. "Shikamaru only sees me as a friend."
Doubt crept into my voice; however, as I remembered the way his eyes darkened as they traveled along my body or the way he'd grab my hips to pull me closer. I suppressed the need to shiver.
Still, it could have just been a boyish, hormonal reaction. He probably would have responded the same with any half-naked woman standing in front of him. As for that scan, infusing chakra was known for stirring up very…stimulating feelings. It shouldn't have been a surprise that he was affected the way he was. It probably didn't mean a thing…
"You're joking, right? You can't be that blind." Ino ripped the pillow away from me and smacked me in the head with it. Hard. "Every time I see you two together, I feel like I'm watching a fucking porno…without the hot sex, mind you. He looks at you like he's about to rip your clothes off and devour you in the street! You're no better, with your doe-eyed, wanton fuck-me eyes. Why don't you do everyone a favor and kiss him already so the rest of the village doesn't have to see that crap?"
"INO!" I screeched. "I do not look at him like that!"
"Oh, yes you do. Even Sai has started to notice."
"YOU TOLD SAI?" I yanked my pillow back and smacked her in the face just as hard, sending her falling off my bed in surprise.
"Like hell I did!" She shouted back, getting up from the floor. "You guys are so obvious, he figured it out on his own. In fact, if it weren't for me, he would have already blurted it out weeks ago, so you're welcome. Now give me that pillow!"
"Oh god," I breathed; putting up no resistance as Ino seized the pillow back. If Sai had figured it out… "Do you think Naruto knows?" I asked, freezing at the thought.
Ino just looked at me for a second before bursting out into laughter.
"Please, if that dolt had figured it out, do you really think he'd keep quiet about it? When he knows, you'll know. Hell, the whole village will know."
I sighed in relief. "Yeah, you're right."
"Of course I'm right. I'm also right about Shikamaru."
"Well, if you're so 'right about Shikamaru,' then why hasn't he asked me out?" I challenged her. "He's had plenty of opportunities."
"For the same reason you haven't asked him," she shot back. I groaned into my hands. There was a pause before I heard her let out a long sigh in frustration. The bed dipped as she sat beside me, pulling me toward her so I rested my head on her shoulder.
"I get it, okay? You're scared. That's understandable, considering your experiences with Sasuke. But you can't keep letting the past affect your future like this. They're not the same person."
"I know that," I whispered.
"Then stop treating him like he is."
"I'm not—" Before I could finish, the words caught in my throat. She was right. I had been treating Shikamaru with the same fear I would Sasuke. How much more pathetic could I get? The tension in my shoulders deflated.
"I just…don't know what to do. Every time I try to tell him, something gets in the way."
"The only thing getting in your way is you."
"Whatever…" I mumbled, turning away. I hated when Ino got serious. It made it so much harder to ignore her.
"Can I ask you something?" she whispered uncertainly, her unusual shyness catching me off guard.
"What?"
"What was the moment you realized you loved him?" Surprised, I cocked my head as I studied her face, noticing how thoughtful and vulnerable she looked. It was an unusual combo I didn't see often from her.
"I'm not sure," I told her truthfully. I tried to think back to the exact moment I realized my feelings.
"A little over a year ago, I guess. I'd just finished a complex surgery that had gone completely wrong…" I trailed off, the memory of that day becoming more clear. The boy, Hiro...he was just a genin fresh out of the academy, eager to prove his worth. Out of impatience, he attempted a highly advanced and dangerous jutsu, causing him to get hurt. Badly.
"The tissue along his arms and torso was devastated. I tried to re-grow the cells but his body was rejecting the treatment." I tried to push back the lump in my throat. He was so young. He had the whole world ahead of him. Or at least, he was supposed to.
"Sakura..."
"I lost him," I told her, taking a shuttering breath. "The damage infected his cells in a way I couldn't repair. He died on my table." I shut my eyes, pushing back my shame. I had tried my best to save him, but my best hadn't been good enough. The worst part was telling his family. Their cries of despair were something that still remained sharp in my memory, even now.
"I left the hospital after that," I continued, ignoring the way Ino was looking at me. "I couldn't go home, and I didn't want to talk to anyone, so I just started to run." I scoffed inwardly at my stupidity. I had run as if making some distance between what had happened would make it better. Of course, it wouldn't, but that hadn't stopped me from trying.
"I was a few miles away from the village, near some cliffs hanging over the valley, before I finally stopped. I sat at the ledge and just stared into the distance." I refrained from telling her how much I had cried there, or how, for a moment, I had considered what it would feel like to step over the ledge and just…fall. They were weak thoughts, a sickening product of my insecurities fuelled by the crushing weight of Hiro's death. A death I had allowed. After all, what was the point of being a shinobi, of being a medic-nin, if I couldn't even save the life of a child?
"Sakura, I'm so sorry…"
"It's fine," I reassured her with a small smile. "It happened a long time ago. As a medic-nin, sometimes we have to accept death so we can learn from our mistakes and never make them again."
"Still," Ino insisted, shaking her head, "that's not something you should have gone through alone. You should have told me!"
"I wasn't alone," I told her. It took a moment, but soon her eyes cleared of confusion. Her lips formed into an "O" as understanding dawned on her.
"Shikamaru?"
"Shikamaru," I agreed. "I have no idea how he found me, but he did." One moment I was alone, buried within a tsunami of self-loathing, the next, he was there.
"He never said a word to me. Just sat down and waited." Silent as grace, he watched as I cried myself dry and screamed myself hoarse, not once making a sound or coming any closer. He sat in patient silence as I unraveled in front of him, exposing my weakest side. It wasn't until I was finished that he finally moved.
"Once I let everything out, he pulled me down and started to run his fingers through my hair. I was so shocked, I was going to protest, but then he started talking about Asuma and I just found myself listening." He talked for a long time about what it was like to lose Asuma; of the memories he had of him before he died…all while tenderly stroking his fingers through my hair. His expression never changed from its stony demeanor, but I could hear the pain in his voice.
"He shared all of his memories with him, talked about Asuma's daughter…" I hummed wistfully at the memory, recalling the last thing he said as the sun sank low over the horizon.
" There will always be death," he had told me. 'As shinobi, we're constantly surrounded by it. It's our world…but where there is death, there is also life. While we can't always save them all, that doesn't mean we can't make a difference with the ones we do help.'"
After that, we sat, watching the skyline fade to black. Once it became dark, Shikamaru had tugged me to my feet and took my hand in his, gently pulling me towards the village. He held my hand the entire way as we walked home together. It was then that I realized how much of a rock Shikamaru had become in my life. He became someone I could rely on, someone that would be there for me in ways no one else could. He became the person whose hand I never wanted to let go.
"He took me home and left me at my door," I finished telling Ino. "After that, it was impossible to not recognize just how much he meant to me." Ino stared at me in silence before looking away, as if absorbing my story.
"I never knew," she finally breathed. "So that was it, huh? That was when you fell in love with him?"
"No," I shook my head. "I fell in love with him long before that. It just took my head a little longer to catch up."
"You are pretty thick-headed," she snickered jokingly, trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere my story had created.
"Oh shut up," I hissed back, just as playfully.
"You need to tell him this."
"How?" I shot back. As if I could ever tell him something so embarrassing.
"You could always ask him out for a drink and get him wasted," she offered casually before snorting in amusement, leaving behind the final weight of melancholy. "Although getting him drunk might be even harder than getting him into bed. I've never seen Shikamaru anything but a little tipsy."
"Ino, be serious," I scolded, secretly fighting off my own grin.
"Fine, then you get drunk! Actually, better yet, let's both get drunk. This is the first night off you've had in forever and we are not wasting the entire night on this mushy bullshit! We're going to go out and party!" Before I could protest, she shot up, running into my closet.
"What are you looking for?" I asked, apprehensively trailing behind her.
"That black dress I got you a while back. Where is it…? Ha, got it!" She triumphantly pulled out the lacy, skintight number from the hole I had tried to bury it in.
"I'm not wearing that," I told her, stone-faced.
"Yes, you are."
"You can't make me."
"Do you really want to go down that road with me?"
"You can't keep threatening to use your mind transfer jutsu on me all the time," I told her, not budging.
"That's true, so how about you get in this dress or I'm walking over to Shikamaru's and telling him everything you just told me?"
Well, fuck.
"I really hate you sometimes," I told her, taking the scrap of fabric and eyeing it distastefully. And she wondered why I don't like telling her my secrets…
"You only hate me because I'm right. Now hurry up and put it on. We can do hair and makeup at my place."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Two hours later, we were off to the club, my dress uncomfortable and my pink hair in proper curls. Ino, meanwhile, wore a deep purple gown that stuck to her like a second skin around the top, before flaring at her waist, cascading like water around her legs. The two slits ending more than halfway up her thigh revealed enough bare flesh that the length hardly mattered. She looked absolutely stunning, every male in the vicinity stopped for a double-take. I may not have looked as sexy as she did, but I had to admit that I cleaned up well. The dress gave me a shapely curve, my breasts at full attention and my legs long.
"Admit it," Ino smirked. "You like it."
"I admit nothing," I told her hotly, sticking my nose in the air.
"Well, well, look who it is," Ino chucked, nodding at two figures in the distance. I looked where she was indicating and froze.
You have got to be kidding me.
"Shikamaru! Choji!" she called with a wave, directing their attention to us. "Over here!"
"What are you doing?" I hissed, watching in horror as they came closer.
"You were chatting with my mom downstairs for sooo long, so I rang them up and asked them to join us."
"You did what?" I screeched. "Why?"
"This is for your own good," she told me seriously. "One way or another, you are going to confess your feelings to him. He likes you, okay? I know he does. Just look at him! Look at the way he's staring at you right now and tell me you don't see what I do."
I did as she asked, and felt my breath catch as his eyes burned, taking me in with a slow, lazy smile stretching across his face. He was gorgeous. Gone was his usual green vest; in its place was a navy blue button-up, his sleeves pushed up to his elbows. The first three buttons were undone, leaving a teasing glimpse of his chest for all to see.
"Ino, I—"
"No more excuses. Pull yourself together!" Ino hissed at me before greeting Choji and Shikamaru directly. "Sorry to keep you guys waiting. Ready to go?"
"We were ready an hour ago," Shikamaru yawned. "You're late."
"I'm sorry," Ino drawled sarcastically. "Do you think perfection like this just magically happens? Stop your moaning, you should feel honored to have the opportunity to escort such beautiful women!"
Shikamaru just rolled his eyes at her before sneaking me a wink. I hid my smile behind my hand.
"Don't mind him," Choji stepped in, "he's just grouchy 'cause you took away his cloud-watching time."
"Whatever, let's just get going already," Shikamaru said, turning away from us and walking towards the club. We quickly followed after him, Ino grumbling about his lack of manners.
"You look very nice tonight, Sakura," Choji complimented shyly.
I turned to him with a sheepish nod. "Thanks, you as well. I don't think I've ever seen you so dressed up." Nowadays he usually wore his armor around the village, hardly ever walking around in street clothes, but tonight he was wearing a flattering auburn shirt with a collar, black dress pants, and shiny shoes. He looked very handsome.
"Thanks," Choji laughed. "Ino insisted we both look presentable. After working with her for so long, I've found it's easier to agree with her than it is to argue."
"Don't I know it," I snickered.
"How has your project been going?" he asked with a mischievous nudge. "I hardly ever see my best bud anymore."
I laughed nervously. "Good, really good. We start our test runs with Kakashi on Monday."
"That's good to hear. Glad things are going well."
"Oh for heaven's sake, can't you go one night without talking about work?" Ino complained, butting in between us. "New rule: every time you talk about work tonight, you have to do a shot."
"Is there anything about my life you don't have to have control over?" I asked, annoyed.
"I wouldn't have to if you knew how to have fun on your own!"
"I know how to have fun!"
"Than prove it," she challenged. "No more shop talk, and no more serious topics for the rest of the night. Only fun is allowed!"
"Ino, just leave her alone, will you?" Shikamaru called, interrupting our little spat. "Anyway, we're here already."
"Woohoo! First rounds on Sakura!" Grabbing Choji's arm, Ino dragged him ahead and into the club, leaving Shikamaru and me behind. I shook my head at her antics as I followed after her, lazy ninja in tow.
"You're going to have to learn to say no to her eventually," he snickered.
"Bite me, Nara."
"Don't tempt me, Haruno."
I rolled my eyes, reaching to open the doors. I winced at the sudden bombardment of loud music pounding from the speakers, not quite used to the change in atmosphere. The Black Den was a club favored by shinobi, with its thrilling beats, electric lights, and cheap drinks. It was the optimal choice for a good night out. Ino loved it here. The only times I ever came around were when she dragged me along, much like tonight. Though I had to admit, we did always have a good time, so who was I to complain?
Shikamaru and I approached the bar where Ino and Choji had already claimed their seats, shots already ordered and ready.
"Bottoms up!" Ino cheered, handing them to us. "To alcohol!"
"To alcohol!" We repeated, clinking our glasses together before downing them in one gulp.
The beginning of the end.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Six shots and five cocktails later, Ino was completely smashed, with Choji and I being on the latter end of tipsy. Only Shikamaru remained mostly sober, with just a faint flush against his cheeks. Abandoning the boys to their conversations, Ino and I had bolted to the dance floor were we currently resided, hands on each other's hip's, twisting and twirling to the pulsating beats of the music. If it hadn't been for the trick Lady Tsunade had taught me, I knew my head would have been swimming right about now, as I had consumed almost as much as Ino had. Instead, I felt only fuzzy, with my spirits soaring above the clouds. Confidence swirled inside me to a degree I couldn't even recognize as more than a few different men, both Shinobi and civilian alike, had tried to ask both Ino and me to dance. It was only after the fifth rejection I saw Ino give that the thought struck me.
"Is there a reason you keep turning down every guy that walks up?" I asked curiously, grabbing her hand as the latest man walked away.
"I'm here with you, not them." She shrugged before tugging us back into a double spin.
"That has never stopped you before."
"Am I boring you already, Sakura?" Ino snickered, fluttering her eyes at me as she threw her arms around my shoulder. "My heart, it shatters! How ever will I go on?"
"Get off of me." I laughed back, trying to pry her arms from around me. I only managed to get even more tangled against her as she coiled her body around mine as tightly as a cobra winds around its prey.
"Ino! I can't breathe."
"Love me!"
"Ino."
"LOVE ME OR DIE!"
"Get o-" with a high pitch yelp, we reeled backward as Ino threw more of her weight against mine, knocking me entirely off-balance. We landed on the ground with a heavy thud, causing more than a few heads to turn in our direction. I expected Ino to take that as her victory and get off, instead, she used our falling as her momentum to pin me to the ground before continuing her assault on my body. I shrieked from both embarrassment and laughter as I felt Ino's fingers ghost across my sides, finding my weak spots in only a matter of seconds.
"No! Oh God – stop– Ino! HELP!" I laughed, desperately trying to slap her prying fingers away. "Shikamaru!"
To avoid our flailing, those on the dance floor parted to give our childish shenanigans room to play out. A few even started to cheer, chanting "catfight!" from the sidelines.
"Shikamaru can't help you now, bitch!" Ino, with a gleeful menace, drawled, all while completely ignoring the crowd. "You're mine."
"People are staring!"
"Well, then we better give them a show." And just like that, I found my hands pinned above my head as Ino went to straddle my waist. I narrowed my eyes. If that was how she wanted to play it, fine. Winding my legs around one another, I used my chakra to give me a quick boost of strength, ripping my hands from Ino's grasp as I twisted my body into a tight roll, forcing Ino off. In a movement just as fast, I used the momentum of my roll to corkscrew my body into an upwards position, my legs swirling from under me until I sat perched in a half-crouch, with my one leg stretched out to a fine point. All around us the lights continued to flash in various colors as the beat from the music pulsated from the ground and into my hands and feet. The crowd cheered, having already formed a well-spaced circle around us.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" The booming voice of the DJ caught everyone's attention as heads swerved to look towards the stage. "It looks like we have ourselves the beginning of a DANCE BATTLE!"
A mixture of cheers and whoops sounded around us as I caught the mischievous glint in Ino's eyes. I grinned back. It was so on.
"We all know the rules!" The DJ continued, "So give our two lovely ladies some space as we drop them our sickest beat!"
With an effortless dip, the music transformed from an electric, almost supernatural sounding tango into a deep and earthy spike of violins screaming war calls and drums crashing with blood lust. The tempo surged with explosive spikes, like the clashing of arms before abating into a held breath like essence, where the various instruments murmured in hushed taunts before once again rising to action. Keeping in tune with the tempo, Ino and I rose from our positions on the floor as we sauntered towards the other, our eyes locked together in a battle all their own.
Dance Battles were the signature event at the Black Den. Performed mostly by shinobi, although not exclusively, they were skirmishes using various martial art techniques to out position your opponent, all through the medium of dance. While most were orchestrated in events, it was not uncommon for impromptu performances like ours to take place. The rules of the match were simple. The matches lasted the length of the song, or until one opponent was made immobile. No real force or chakra was permissible during the match. Injuring the opponent was instant grounds for being disqualified, permanently. It was a performance, after all.
With an unspoken agreement, Ino and I surged forward as the music flared once more. I took into account the restrictive nature of my attire. A dress such a mine was hardly ideal in a battle where fluid movement was a necessity. But, while Ino had the advantage of a longer, more fluid skirt, I had the advantage of foresight. As Ino raised her hands in the beginning motion of a summersault, mine dropped to the hem of my skirt, quickly tearing the fabric to make a slit that ended inches above my waist, the black booty shorts I had put on when Ino wasn't looking the only thing keeping my modesty intact. Seeing the fine detailing's of the lace being split like cheap linen, Ino faltered, her eye twitching either from shock or barely repressed rage, I didn't know. I did not, however, waste my opening.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Please Review : )