Hellooo readers..!
I'm sorry for the prolonged time between my eight and ninth chapter.
But, here it is, finally..!
Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine, has never been mine, and never will be mine. Blah..! I want Naruto now.. Ah, I'm sure Masashi Kishimoto-san writes it better than I do. Sorano's mine though..xDD


Sorano and Shikamaru both cherished their company and being in each other's arms. Shikamaru wanted to make something official though.

"Sorano.." Shikamaru started.

Sorano lifted her head off of his chest. "Yes?"

"I want to make something official." He took her hands in his. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

Sorano smiled at the way he made everything so sweet and innocent. "Yes, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru and Sorano filled with happiness and it filtered into their eyes as tears as Shikamaru cupped Sorano's head in his hands. "I love you so much, Sorano."

"I love you, too. Now kiss me already," Sorano smiled.

Shikamaru chuckled, "Okay." As he was leaning down towards her, he thought, "This is gonna be the first kiss we share together and there's no pressure, no interruptions, no worries."

Shikamaru continued to lean down and as his and Sorano's lips were about to touch, Naruto, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi bursted through the door and ran straight into them, knocking them all down onto the floor. Udon landed on Konohamaru, Moegi landed on Shikamaru's leg, and Naruto landed on Sorano.

"Agh!" Konohamaru screamed. "Get off of me, homo!"

Udon blushed a violent red. "Sorry."

Moegi clung to the object below her. She opened one eye to see where she had landed. What she saw was unusual and awkward. "I-it's so big.." she thought experimently.

Shikamaru looked down and saw Moegi clinging to his leg and looking up at him with a strange look. He waved his hand in front of her face. "Uhm..you can get off of me now."

Moegi's thoughts were interrupted. "Oh, uh, I'm sorry."

"No problem."

"But, I have one question for you."

Shikamaru hesitated, "..go ahead.."

"Why are you so big?"

Immediately, perverted thoughts filled his mind. "Uhm.. was that was she was looking at? Why..why was she looking at..that? Uhm.. what do you mean?"

"Well, your towel was flipped off of you and I saw-"

"Okay! We can stop talking about that now."

Moegi got up and shrugged it off. Shikamaru turned to watch the argument between Konohamaru and Udon.

Naruto layed his head on something soft. His blue eyes popped open to find he was laying on a person. He brought his sprawled out arms next to the body he was laying on. He felt its curves through his arms. "Well, girls have curves. So, this must be a girl. And the only girls in this room are Sorano and Moegi. I hope I'm not on top of Moegi, dattebayo!" He looked up to find it was Sorano.

Sorano looked up at Naruto. "About time you got up. I was starting to think you just liked my boobs."

"Nothing I haven't seen already."

"Oh, that was harsh."

Naruto smiled at Sorano. "I'm just playing with you, Sorano..dattebayo."

"I know." Sorano placed her hand ontop of Naruto's head and began to rub his peculiarly soft, spiky hair. "I love your hair. It's so interesting."

Naruto sat on his knees, still atop Sorano. "Hah. Thank you, I suppose."

Sorano scooted back a little bit, sat up, and looked at him. "Did you hear what I was telling Shikamaru on the way here?"

Naruto searched his mind. "About how you're a Jinchuuriki?"

"Mhm."

"Oh, well, yeah. Until Shikamaru shooed us off, dattebayo," Naruto growled.

"Yeah. I heard you were one too."

"Wait a minute. You're just like me, then."

"What do you mean?"

"That you had to go through a majority of life a loner and rejected, just like I did.."

"Oh, I was treated very badly, yes. Everyone knew something about me was different so they never really liked me. But no one except Gaara knew I was one of the Jinchuuriki. But he didn't find that out until a few years after he met you."

"But you know what kind of pain I suffered, right?"

"Oh, totally. I still suffered just as much by myself before I met Gaara."

"What do you mean 'by yourself'?"

"Well, I didn't have my parents to raise me. I..they were murdered."

"Who murdered them?"

"I-I did."

"You did? Dattebayo..that must be really hard on you."

"Yeah..y'know. You're a really nice friend to talk to. Can I trust you with my secret though?"

"Of course, dattebayo!"

"Good, because other then me, only three people know."

"Who?"

"You, Gaara, and Shikamaru. Wow, that was dumb. I just practically said that when I was explaining."

"Hey! I'm not dumb. I'm mentally challenged."

Sorano and Naruto laughed and continued to talk about themselves more while Konohamaru and Udon bickered, Moegi was fascinated with a bird, and Shikamaru stepped outside to find where his robe magically disappeared to.

"Okay, I need to go get a robe. I thought I brought one with me though," Shikamaru thought as he closed the door behind him. He looked up and around the hall and saw Ino balled up in a corner and, what seemed to be, crying. "Ino?" he loathly called to her.

Ino slowly looked up to see Shikamaru standing there in his towel. "Shika?" she asked, surprised to see him out here.

"Listen, Ino, I wasn't cheating on you with Sorano. It was an innocent hug that you walked in on. I will admit that we kissed earlier today. I was ashamed of it, very much. And, I am not in love with you. I have always been in love with Sorano. She's the only person I've ever been in love with. I do, in fact, love you. And I still want to be your friend. I don't know why you're crying though. And I'm probably too inconsiderate to ask."

With red, puffy eyes, Ino looked up at him. "Shika..? Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Do you think Chouji will ever like me?"

Shikamaru thought she was crying over him..apparently he was so wrong. "Uh..yeah. I'm sure he would."

Ino got up and wiped her sadness away with a smile. "Thanks, Shika!" She walked into her room as if nothing happened.

Shikamaru stood there confused. "So she liked Chouji all this time?"

"Shikamaru?" Sorano came out of their room and lightly touched Shikamaru's shoulder.

"Hm?" he turned to face her.

"Have you gone to get your robe yet?"

"No."

"Can I come with you, then?"

"Sure.." Shikamaru and Sorano walked down the stairs to the ground level of the bath house. "So..what were you and Naruto talking about?"

Sorano looked at him. "Do I smell a hint of..jealousy? Oh, nothing. Why do you ask?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. I kinda got a tad worried with him sitting there on top of you."

"Haha..jackpot. Well, Shikamaru, I was only telling him about the Bijuu. And it wasn't his fault he landed on me." Sorano got closer to Shikamaru. "Don't be so jealous, Shikamaru."

"I'm not jealous. I was just..wondering."

"C'mon, Shikamaru. We both know you're jealous." Sorano crossed her arms.

"I'm not jealous." Shikamaru began to defend his state of being a little less lazily.

"But he is jealous. Why won't he admit it? Shikamaru- never mind. I won't keep it going." Sorano grabbed Shikamaru's hand and began to rub it gently.

"Your hands are cold, Sora. What are you doing, anyway?"

"I'm just rubbing your hand, that's all." Sorano laced her fingers with his. "I'll stop if you want."

"Can you keep your hand where it is?"

Sorano smiled. "Sure."

Shikamaru and Sorano held onto each other's hand like their life depended on it. They didn't want to let go.

"Oh, I see my robe." Shikamaru released Sorano's hand reluctantly and walked over to a robe laying in the middle of the hallway. He picked up the lonely piece of fabric. "Let's go back up to the room, all right?"

"Okay." Sorano darted up the stairs faster than the speed of light.

"Hey! Wait for me, Sorano! Ugh..what a drag." Shikamaru sprinted up the steps after her. He turned the corner and saw a blazing light coming from one of the rooms. There was no sign of any human life in the hall. He neared the glowing, blue light. "What is that? Where is Sorano? What if something happened to her?"

Shikamaru walked closer to the light. He peered into the brightness. He couldn't see one thing. He stepped forward, forgetting to brace himself for anything to happen. He stepped into nothing and began falling into the brightness. Once realizing where he was, outside of the bath house, he grabbed onto one of the ledges that had been broken off. He regained his composure and looked down onto a deep, giant hole. He saw large footprints in the hole in the sand.

"Is that from a summoned..monster? Does that mean..Sorano was kidnapped?"


Well, 'tis the end.
I hope you liked it.
I'll post my next chapter somewhat soon.
Hopefully, ten days is my deadline.
Happy Spring lol..!