Cold Light
Cloudy Skies
Shikamaru sat on the edge of the bank replaying all the facts in his head. 'What could have caused you to do this Sakura…' There were many possibilities that needed to be considered- so many different options and scenarios. Which one could have triggered Haruno Sakura's breakdown? 'Which one…' Shikamaru counted them off in his head
Sasuke.
Ino.
Work.
Stress.
Sleeplessness.
Loneliness.
He listed the first six obvious ones but there were so many more options 'There are too many possibilities to possibly figure one out.' Shikamaru let out a frustrated groan as he picked up the kunai he had grabbed hoping that it would provide some sort of clue. It was a plain old kunai with no real distinguishing marks except for an "S" carved into the blade. He assumed it stood for Sakura, although it could be for Sasuke or any other number of names. He let out another groan. This is exactly why he never got involved in situations like this they were too much trouble for his tastes.
The little nagging voice in his head wasn't helping either. It was saying that there was something missing- the key to this entire mess; Shikamaru couldn't put seem his finger on what that key was. He took one last drag on his cigarette letting the smoke swirl around him, enjoying the taste and then flicked the dying butt into the pond. Lazily his eyes watched as it was extinguished with a hiss and a small puff of smoke. He sank back into the damp dew covered grass and closed his eyes, "You know Asuma…"
Sakura let out a small cough and tugged the blanket around her closer. Her head was fuzzy and she was having difficultly thinking. Her body was thankful for the warmth of the blanket but when had she gotten a blanket? Her mind spun on this until she realized she never had gotten one. Emerald eyes flew open and looked down at the blanket. Forest green with slightly worn corners, she fingered the corner and felt something sewn in on the other side. Flipping over the blanket she saw the neat golden letters embroidered into the fabric, Nara Shikamaru. Panic suddenly filled Sakura.
She threw the blanket off of her in a hurry and caught site of the crisp clean bandages wrapped around her wrist. 'Those weren't there before… Oh shit...' Sakura sank back to the ground, 'Where is that kunai? Where the hell is it?'
"Whatcha doing Sakura-chan?" called a sing-song voice from behind her. She turned her head around to find Naruto standing over her.
Sakura rubbed her neck sheepishly, "I was… uhh… looking for my earring! Yes, that's it I was looking for my earring!"
'Nice one idiot… You couldn't come up with anything better?'
'I'd like to see you try.'
'Gladly, let's switch.'
'Heck no!'
"Sakura-chan, you don't wear earrings…" Sakura's eyes just widen at the blond boy.
"Heheh… You're right I don't… I must have been dreaming! I'm gonna go see everyone else now. Bye Naruto." Sakura waved goodbye and started power walking away from the very confused blond.
"What's up with her? Oh well maybe it's that time of the month or something." He shrugged his shoulders and walked into the woods to relieve nature's calling.
Sakura's hand tightened around her bandaged wrist. She clearly remembered the feeling the kunai slicing the skin and laying it beside her. So where was the kunai now? Sakura strode over to Neji and Tenten who were sitting by the fire.
"Ah morning Sakura!" waved Tenten brightly.
"Good morning." She glanced around, "Has anyone seen Shikamaru?"
"I think he went out of a walk. He left a note saying that he'd relieved you and that the perimeter was secure." Neji said as he poked at the fire with a long stick. "Do you want any breakfast?" he motioned towards the cakes and the tea.
Sakura gave them a fake smile, "No but thanks guys. I'll be back soon I need to go find Shikamaru."
Sakura hurried off searching for the shadow user. He was the only one who could have possibly taken her kunai. 'How could I have been so careless?' she berated herself. 'If only…'
'But you didn't and now you'll have to live with the consequences. I swear you are incredibly stupid.'
'Shut up! I don't need to hear from the likes of you.'
"So much for peace and quiet." said Shikamaru as several kunais flew through the air imbedding themselves in the ground around his body. He eyed one particularly close to his manhood with distaste. "That wasn't very nice Sakura." Shikamaru's coffee eyes focused on the protruding kunai. He withdrew it from the ground and threw it at Sakura; she caught it with perfect ease.
"Yes well I'd say we are even then. Now give it back Nara!"
He sighed shaking his head at the angry kunochi, "It's not my fault that you were careless with your secrets." He snapped back as he stood up from the ground throwing her "precious" kunai back to her.
Her eyes burned into his as they glared at each other. His jaw was drawn into a thin taught line; it was taking all the self-control he had not to snarl at the woman standing before him. Shikamaru felt his angry boiling at her reaction. She should be showing some gratitude some appreciation or something! But she was being nothing more than a grade A ice cube.
"There are you happy now 'oh great captain Sakura'?" he mocked at his superior. Sakura snapped at Shikamaru's insubordinate attitude and tackled him to the ground. Sakura's body was straddling his own across his stomach. She leaned down towards him so that their faces were inches apart. To anyone else this would have looked like an intimate moment between two lovers but the anger and the hurt burning in both of their eyes proved otherwise.
she doesn't look, she doesn't see
"Don't mock me Nara!" she spat. "I am still your leader for this mission."
opens up for nobody
"I have every right to. You have continually made all the wrong choices. You think I relish in watching you screw up, do you?" Shikamaru yelled back throwing all of this anger at her.
figures out, she figures out
"Screw you!" she punched the ground beside his head. "Like you haven't been doing the exact same thing!" Her voice was shaking with uncontrollable rage and Shikamaru was matching it line for line.
narrow line, she can't decide
"At least I don't try to hide it. What I do is my own god damn business. I'm not gonna stoop to interfering in your life, like the rest of you seem to be doing in mine. You clearly aren't ready for this!" he yelled back up at her.
everything short of suicide
Sakura's hand came flying down hitting him across the face with a resounding slap. "Go to hell for all I care."
never hurts, nearly works
"With pleasure." Shikamaru flipped them over so that he was on top of Sakura pinning her to the ground. He held her wrists above her head so that she couldn't slap him again. "Now listen and listen good. I'm not gonna tell anyone 'bout what I saw. I'm not that kinda guy. But listen here," Shikamaru brought his face close enough for their breaths to mingle together, "I will not put up with covering for all of your stupid mistakes." Tears were brimming in the corners of her eyes and Sakura was fighting to hold them back. Gaining leverage Sakura moved her leg out and kicked Shikamaru in the side and sent him flying to the edge of the pond. Quickly Sakura disappeared in a flash of pink leaving Shikamaru groaning beside the pond.
something is scratching
its way out
something you want
to forget about
something is scratching
its way out
something you want
to forget about…
Shikamaru just stayed on the ground, "I deserved that didn't I?" he said softly looking at Asuma's image that was standing before him. "I really did…" He knew that he shouldn't have gotten angry but there was a part of him that was smarting and it sure as hell wasn't his cheek or his side. "What have I done?"
AN: So I'd like to apologize for my lateness in updating but well school, APs, SATs, etc… It's fun stuff… I currently wrote this during my break from cramming chem in. I never realized how long AP tests were… But those are coming to a close and after May 13th I'm home free and we are back to regular updates!
So I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I ended up rewriting it several times. This is my fourth version of it. Orginally it was 8 pages long but then I was listening to my "How to Save a Life" CD and heard the song "little house" and it just fit that scene between Shikamaru and Sakura perfectly so I changed it. This means I'll be updating later in the week with a much longer update and probably pictures of all the lovely villains since I spent a couple hours yesterday designing them.
So I hope this chapter didn't seem to out of it. I think it came out a bit jumpy and I feel like I made Shikamaru get mad for no reason and just messed up how I portrayed this chapter. So any positive or negative feedback that you guys could give me would be great.
Thank You!
Cloudy
Review Shoutouts:
To all of you who read: I love you all and thank you!
bluepen113: I know it doesn't explain quite everything but… It's getting to that point. Thank you for your continued support.
Aloha.Laney: Not quite fluffy but definitely more Shika/Saku interaction. Ino and Sasuke will get what they deserve in the end. It always works like that. Thank you for the wonderful view.
riptiderobin21: Yeah Sasuke was OOC despite what I tried. I basically ended up with him as the stereotypical seems nice but really is sleezy boyfriend. I might go back later and try to fix him up a bit. Keeping the characters in character is not one of my strong points. Thank you for your continued insight.
EvilFaerie17: Yeah that's people's general consensus but you'll all find out later so now worries. Shikamaru can be helpful and kind though I think I made him a bit selfish and mean in this chapter though he'll be better later. Thank you for your support.
ChiakitheHedgehogKoniochi: As they say in the theater the show must go on. Or well in this case the story must go on! Thank you for the review.
