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Silence overcame them once again. Finally his mother spoke. "Well that's quite thoughtful of you… Tsunade said she is looking into more steps to keeping her safe and secure here in the village. Of course, now that she's staying under my roof, I expect she'll be just fine here."

Shikaku nodded in agreement with his wife. "She'll be fine here no doubt."

It wasn't until after Shikaku left outside to go to the grill, and his mother had left to go back to her bedroom for a moment, that Shikamaru finally stopped his writing, and looked over to Sakura. After the chaotic day they had, her face held a calmness that was welcoming. She looked peaceful. Yeah, she'll be fine. I won't let anything happen to her here.

The next day

The sound of Shadow and Tank running down the hallway into the living was the first thing breaking the silence in the main area of the Nara house. Yoshino was cooking breakfast, Shikaku was reading the newspaper at the bar, and Shikamaru was waiting for the coffee pot to finish brewing the coffee. His eyes moving to the entrance to the hall when he heard the shuffling of human feet on the floor.

Out walked Sakura, dressed in sweatpants, and a loose fitting t-shirt. Her hair up in a messy bun, and she was rubbing her face.

"Good morning Sakura," Yoshino was the first to greet the pink haired woman.

After yawning, Sakura offered a smile to Yoshino. "Good morning," she said, turning to go let the dogs outside the front. Moving to stretch her arms up in attempt to wake up a bit, she regretted it almost immediately when the movement had brought her pain in her side.

"So," Shikamaru started, noticing her pain right away, as she had brought a hand to her injured area. "You should go take your medicine."

Hearing Shikamaru's words put a sour expression on Sakura's face, as she turned her narrowed eyes towards him. "Look, we're not doing this. I can take care of myself."

"Well I think I'm going to have to take a page from Hinata's book, and say that you can't," Shikamaru was surprisingly quick to counter her. "Take your medicine."

Laughing sarcastically, Sakura slapped her hands together. "Look, yesterday I was in a lot of pain and annoyed, it was pretty easy for me to agree to just going home and taking the medicine. Just because you think that you got me to listen to yesterday, doesn't mean you are all of a sudden in charge of my healthcare."

"You're right," Shikamaru once again countered her words, a smirk on his face. "I figured that last night was a one time thing, so I planned ahead. All of our work for the next few days was finished last night, so you will have no excuse not to rest. I also found out from my parents that Tsunade's also taking your patients away from you for the next few days, so there's no point in trying to go work at the hospital. So you have all the time in the world to relax and take it easy."

"I can still go train." Sakura pointed out after a moment.

Shikamaru's smirk grew at her bringing that up. "That's true, but I know you won't. Because if you do, I will find out where your team is, and bring up what happened on our getaway from the village. Not only will they not want you to train, but they will question you. On and on. Until you want to rip out your hair."

Sakura was quiet, as she crossed her arms. "You want to keep me captive here, that's fine. But I still don't want to hear anything about my health-"

"I know, because you think I'm incredibly annoying and all in your business," Shikamaru interrupted, laughing at the look of annoyance on her face. "That's why if you don't take your medicine I will send a message to Tsunade."

"You wouldn't..." Sakura trailed off after a moment, losing her look of annoyance to be replaced with uncertainty. She wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not.

Shikamaru stared back at her, crossing his arms back at her. "I'll go get a scroll right now."

It was quiet for a long moment, then finally Sakura scowled after Shadow and Tank came in. Shutting the door, she turned to go back to the hall her bedroom was off of. "You are so annoying!"

"Likewise," Shikamaru replied back to her, laughing at her frowning at him over her shoulder. "And you should go ahead and bring your pills out here so I can make sure you actually take them. Because your word isn't going to cut it."

Stopping, Sakura laughed sarcastically, then glared deeply at him. "You know, you and Hinata seem to think it's really cute to threaten to tell Tsunade every five seconds I do something she wouldn't approve of, but it is really annoying."

Smirking back at her, Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders. "I think Hinata would agree with me in saying that we don't really care."

Growling lowly at Shikamaru's smirk, Sakura spun back around and started down the hall. His little grin is so damn annoying.

The sound of Sakura grumbling about him had Shikamaru chuckling. Shaking his head, he turned to the coffee maker, and poured coffee into his mug.

The sound of the dogs trotting in was heard, then human footsteps followed.

"Oh good morning Hinata," Yoshino greeted the guest who had walked in after the dogs.

"Good morning," Hinata greeted back with a smile. Loving on Shadow and Tank for a moment, as they wanted attention.

"Sakura was just in here," Shikaku spoke up, his eyes lifting up from the newspaper to accept the coffee mug his wife handed him. Taking a sip, then his eyes returned to the newspaper. "I'm assuming she's the reason for you visit this morning."

This actually had Hinata chuckling, as she reached over and grabbed Baby from where she was perched on the back of one of the couches. "Yeah, I'm just here to make sure she's actually taking care of herself."

"What a coincidence," Shikamaru smirked, sipping on his coffee, as he leaned back against one of the kitchen counters. "That's what I'm doing."

Laughing once again, Hinata scratched at Baby's ears. The cat had relaxed in her arms, and was comfortable with the attention. "In that case we should tag team, and try to make her hate us more than she already does."

That had the Nara's laughing, leaving them all distracted for when Sakura re-entered the room. Her eyes went straight to Hinata, then she gave them a roll. "God you're here."

"Good morning princess, I would ask how you slept, but your bitchiness answers my question," Hinata replied, a smirk growing on her face. Letting Baby down on the back of the couch, she crossed her arms. "Or is it that you're just mad because Tsunade refused to allow you to act like a psycho with a death wish yesterday?"

"Get away from me," was Sakura's only response, as she brushed past Hinata. Stopping by the kitchen counter, she pulled the cap off one of her pill bottles, then started on the other.

Rolling her eyes at Sakura's words, Hinata turned to face her. "Did you take your medicine yet?"

Hearing that only seemed to infuriate Sakura, as she was quick to take her pills out of the bottles. Shoving the pills in her mouth, she reached over, took the coffee mug Shikamaru was holding, and took a sip to help the pills go down. All while not losing her glare in Hinata's direction.

Nodding her head once, Hinata smirked once again. "Good girl."

"I don't appreciate being talked to like a dog," Sakura shot back to her best friend, then turned to Shadow and Tank. Who, just by seeing that their mom was looking at them, started to wag their tails happily. "No offense my loves."

"Of course you are rude to everyone except your dogs."

"That's where you are wrong my dear best friend," Sakura replied, propping her free hand on her hip. "I was perfectly civil to Yoshino and Shikaku. I just really don't appreciate you and Mr.-Take-Your-Medicine-Or-I'm-Going-To-Tell-On-You over there."

Laughing at his new nickname, Shikamaru shook his head. "You are too dramatic."

Sipping at the coffee mug in her hand again, Sakura frowned. "Uh," she started, her eyes going to Shikamaru. "Why would you give me this? You know I like creamer or at least milk and sugar in my coffee."

"Well for starters," Shikamaru replied, taking the coffee mug back from her. "I didn't give that to you, you took it. Secondly, it was mine, so that's why it doesn't have all of that extra stuff in there."

That didn't seem to shake Sakura, as she shrugged back at him. "Okay well, if you are going to practically force these pills down my throat, you should at least have my coffee ready next time."

Rolling his eyes, Shikamaru smirked, after sipping at the coffee mug. "I'll keep that in mind."

That brought laughter from his parents and Hinata. The blue haired girl turned towards the door, but paused to look over her shoulder to Sakura. "I'll be around later this evening to make sure you take the rest of your pills. I have training today, and I don't have time to babysit you."

"Gee, I feel so blessed that you could take time out of your busy schedule to see me," Sakura bit back, having poured her own cup of coffee, and just added in her creamer. "I'm feeling the love Hinata."

"Really? Because all I'm sensing from you is animosity," Hinata replied, then she chuckled. "Try to get some rest today."

"Don't tell me what to do," was all Sakura replied with as she walked by Hinata to go sit on one of the couches.

Sighing, Hinata shook her head, and moved to leave.

It wasn't until the door was closed that Shikamaru moved over to sit on the couch near Sakura. A smirk on his face. "So are you taking drugs to make you sleep? I'm just asking because I don't know how long I'll be able to put up with this pleasant attitude of yours."

The sarcasm in Shikamaru's voice had Sakura laughing, as she sipped at her coffee mug. A twinkle in her eyes as she looked to him. "Shut up."

A few hours later

"I know you're awake."

"So what?"

"So stop ignoring me… Sakura-"

"God how do I make you stop talking?" Sakura interrupted, her eyes opening, and she looked over to the other side of the couch. Her tired eyes met Shikamaru's, and she frowned at him. "After recently having had part of a katana lodged into my abdomen, I think sleep is what the doctor ordered for recovery."

Rolling his eyes at her tone, Shikamaru picked up Baby from where she had made herself comfortable on his lap. Holding her out in Sakura's direction, he set her down on Sakura's curled up legs. "Your cat is being needy, and your dogs have been full of energy the past few hours. I'm not here to take care of your animals."

"Then why else are you here?" Sakura countered him, yawning and stretching, then she grabbed Baby to pull her closer to her chest. Her eyes going over towards the sunroom entrance when she heard Shadow and Tank's barking from the backyard.

"Because I live here," Shikamaru replied back, shaking his head at how that had his parents laughing from where they were on the couch across from them.

"Yeah, well so do I," Sakura shot back, smiling mischievously at him. "For at least another month, so I'm going to need you to learn to accept the fact that you are now partially responsible for my furbabies."

"No, that's not how this works-"

"Well that's the new rule."

With a smirk growing on his face, Shikamaru shook his head at her. "So you get to make up all the rules now?"

"Yep. The next one is that we stop thinking of me as injured, and get back to work on stuff for the party-"

"Now I'm vetoing this one," Yoshino interrupted Sakura, looking up from the details she was writing for the request for the people who were catering the food for the party. "Privileges of actually being one of the two owners of the house."

Sakura shrugged then, as she looked to Shikamaru. "Very well. Your mom and dad can veto the rules, but you have no say."

Shadow and Tank came trotting in from the sun room, just as there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it," Shikaku said, getting up from the couch, and going to open the door. "What brings you by?"

Having been facing away from the door, Sakura heard a familiar voice respond to Shikaku, then she turned her head to confirm who it was. Seeing the familiar face of her best friend's cousin, Sakura sighed with disappointment. "Oh, it's you."

"Well it's so nice to see you too," Neji replied, smirking, as he walked over towards the couch she was on. Stopping nearby her, and moving to pet Shadow and Tank who were insisting that they get attention. "Hinata said you need someone to look after you."

"Wow, she just said she didn't have time to babysit me, so she sent a replacement babysitter instead," Sakura said, then she scoffed. "I feel so honored to have her as a best friend."

Taking no time to hesitate, Neji smirked back at her. "Well you should. I wouldn't want that job even if someone paid me."

That didn't faze Sakura, as she smiled with a little sass back at him. "Don't be jealous Neji; it doesn't look good on you."

"Tch," Neji rolled his eyes, and crossed his arms. "Here I thought that this job of coming to babysit you would be you asleep all day, and me not having to deal with you. Of course, you're awake, and probably not planning to sleep."

"Well I was, but since you're here, I think I'll rally," was Sakura's sarcastic toned reply, as she smiled back at him. Her smile broke when she yawned, and her attention went back to Baby on her chest. "Anyways, you don't really need to be here in the first place. You babysitting me is unnecessary."

"You're mother doesn't think it's unnecessary-"

"Oh of-freaking-course!" Sakura exclaimed interrupting, as she moved to push herself sitting up. Baby having jumped off her chest to go to the coffee table to sit. She moved to push herself up from the couch. "I don't know why I'm surprised to find out that my mother is behind this."

"You're supposed to be resting," Shikamaru told her at her standing up.

Pausing to look at Shikamaru, Sakura motioned to Neji on her other side. "My mother has sent me a babysitter, and I can't just ignore him. That's apparently rude."

"Sakura," Neji spoke, shaking his head, and rolling his eyes.

Ignoring Neji, Sakura clapped her hands together, and smiled big. "Because it's Neji that could only mean one thing."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "What would that be?"

Neji apparently already knew what Sakura's answer was, as he held a look of disagreement on his face. "Sakura, no-"

"Time for day-drinking," Sakura interrupted, smiling happily, as she moved over to grab her shoes from the floor.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Shikamaru told her, watching her struggle to catch her balance, as she put her shoes on.

"Yeah well I didn't ask you."

Neji reached over to steady Sakura, as his look of disapproval increased. "I don't think it's a great idea either."

Barking out a laugh, Sakura moved to put on her other shoe. "That's really funny Neji."

Shaking his head, Neji uncrossed his arms. "I'm not going to encourage your alcoholic behavior."

"Then why else are you here?" Sakura countered quickly, as she finished putting on her shoe. Straightening up, she stared back at him.

Neji frowned at her serious look. "Do you honestly believe that is the only reason why I'm here?"

Blinking slowly, Sakura was quiet for a moment. "Is that a trick question?"

Staring back at Sakura in silence, finally Neji stepped closer to her, and leaned down slightly to get on eye level with her. "If your mother finds out that instead of making sure you stay home and heal, you go out and drink, she's going to kill me."

Leaning closer to him, Sakura smirked. "You should just do what I do. She's not going to be happy with whatever I do, so I might as well go ahead and do whatever I want anyway. She'll be mad at me either way."

"That doesn't make any sense-"

"That's because you always do what your told, and even when you don't people still look at you like your a god," Sakura shot back, laughing with a slight bitter tone. "When I do that, I get scolded and lectured."

"That's not true-"

"Lying doesn't look good on you either," Sakura interrupted him, a sweet smile back on her face as she grabbed her bag from the floor. "Now lets go."

Staring back at Sakura for a long moment, Neji frowned, and crossed his arms again. "We're not going."

An hour later

"Take your medicine."

"Mind your own business." Was the reply Sakura gave Neji, as she walked past him into the Nara house. Greeted by Shadow and Tank, she knelt down carefully to pet them both.

Rolling his eyes, Neji shut the front door, and crossed his arms. Giving a nod to Shikaku and Yoshino who were in the kitchen, and Shikamaru who was leaning back on one of the couches. His eyes went down to Sakura. "Take your medicine Sakura."

Stopping petting Shadow and Tank, Sakura straightened up carefully, and moved to open the bag that had been hanging off her arm. Pulling out a tequila bottle that had clearly been already opened, she took a drink from it. "I don't know Neji, I'm almost a hundred percent positive that I'm not supposed to drink alcohol and take that medicine together."

"Okay one, you've been drinking out of that tequila bottle regularly over the hour we were gone. So you're show of taking a sip now was pointless," Neji shot back, a serious expression on his face. "Two, Hinata has informed me of all the medications you are taking, and I know what you should and should not have with them. So finally three, even if I didn't know this, you're not stupid. You very well know that the medicine from this morning is still in your system, and you wouldn't be drinking if you knew that it would be a problem."

Sakura's look turned into a sour one, as she growled lowly. "Damn it. I knew that I should have asked for the better drugs… I should have known better. Healthy herbal medicine my ass." While that had the others laughing, Sakura sighed, and frowned at Neji. "I don't know what happened. You used to be so nice to me… Most of the time."

"I don't know," Neji replied, leaning closer to her face. "You used to not be so stupid, and would take care of yourself… Most of the time." Having to dodge Sakura's fist, Neji moved over to the counter. Sakura's pill bottles where she left them this morning. Grabbing them both, he held them out to Sakura. "I'm waiting."

"You're annoying," Sakura shot back after a moment of silence. Setting her bottle of tequila down on the counter, she grabbed the pill bottles, and got out the necessary amount of pills. Taking them down with a little bit of water from her water cup near by. Finished up, she grabbed her tequila bottle, and crossed the living room to go to the sun room. Her dogs at her feet, and Baby not far behind.

"Are you planning on getting a glass?" Shikamaru asked her as she passed him.

Sakura hardly looked Shikamaru's way, as she took a swig from the bottle. "What's the point if I'm drinking the whole bottle today?"

The pink haired woman then walked into the sunroom, leaving them all in silence. Neji finally sighed, closed his eyes, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This is just what I wanted to be doing today."

A couple hours later

The sound of Sakura rambling on about something was what Shikamaru heard as he walked into the sunroom. His eyes first going to Neji, who was seated in one of the arm chairs. Reading something. Shadow and Tank were on the floor, and not far away from them was Sakura. Laying on her back, with her feet up on the couch. Her arms spread out, and one of her hands moved slowly to pet Baby. She was talking about something he didn't quite understand, but from what he gathered it probably wouldn't make sense even if he knew what she was talking about.

Neji noticed Shikamaru walk in, and his eyes moved over to Shikamaru after a minute of silence. Knowing Sakura wasn't paying attention, he didn't hold back on what was on his mind. "She's at the point of sleep I think, I'm just hoping it's within the next ten minutes, or I'll end up smothering her."

That had Shikamaru smirking, as he shook his head. After a moment of watching Sakura ramble on, his eyes went to Neji. "It's nice of you to come over here to be here for her." He moved over to sit in one of the other arm chairs. "I mean after yesterday, then this morning, I highly doubt I could get her to be cooperative."

Neji chuckled slightly. "Well it isn't as easy as it seems. I just have had to put up with her for several years now, and I have practice. Dealing with her is pretty easy now. You'll get there," he said, before smirking. "From what Hinata told me, you did a good enough job this morning."

"After the past few weeks, along with everything she has told me, it didn't really take much for me to come up with a plan to make sure she had no excuses not to relax," Shikamaru said, then he was the one chuckling. "However, I did have to threaten to tell Tsunade to get her to actually take her medicine."

"Don't worry, if you stick around her long enough, you'll get to a point where you won't have to threaten it. With Hinata and I, she knows that we will inform Tsunade without us having to actually say it," Neji replied, smirking then. "But, I have to say the excuses she'll come up with won't be stopping anytime soon. She'll reach for anything to use."

"Good to know-"

"Hey!" Sakura's exclamation interrupted Shikamaru, as her eyes were on him and Neji. A drunken smile stretched across her face. "When did you get here?"

Studying Sakura, her big smile and red cheeks, made Shikamaru smile with amusement. "About three minutes ago."

"No, I don't think so," Sakura started back, rubbing her nose slightly where she felt it tickling. "I would have remembered that."

"I don't think you'd remember anything at this point," Shikamaru replied, his smile widening as he shook his head at how that made her laugh for some reason.

Neji wasn't as amused by Sakura's laughter, as he closed his book and stood up. "Alright Sakura, I think it's time you go take a nap."

"But I'm- I'm not tired," was Sakura's reply, as Neji had taken one of her hands to get her to sit up. "I didn't even finish my tequila."

"Yes you did Sakura," Neji replied, smirking as he pointed out the empty tequila bottle on the table. "About half an hour ago."

That news seemed to completely surprise Sakura, as her eyes went wide. "What? It disappeared?"

"Oh lord," Neji sighed, shaking his head, as he moved to pull Sakura to standing up. When she started to fight him, he squeezed her hand a bit to make her stand still. "I'd really appreciate if you'd cooperate so you don't do something stupid like tear your stitches."

Sakura gained a serious look on her face, as she waived Neji's words off. "Neji, I'm not even stupid."

Sighing once again, Neji's eyes went to Shikamaru. "Where's her room?"

Standing up from the arm chair, Shikamaru stuck his hands into his pockets "I'll show you." As they left they left the sunroom, he smirked when he heard Sakura stumbling behind him, and Neji's calm footsteps. Once in Sakura's room, he flipped on the lights, and moved to her bed. He pulled back the covers, and made sure to avoid where Baby had jumped on the bed. Without much thought, he scratched her head a bit, as his eyes went to Sakura.

The pink haired woman had moved just at that moment to fall back onto her bed. Slightly startling her cat, but Baby adjusted more so she was on the pillows. Sakura pulled the covers back on her just in time for Shadow and Tank to jump on the bed and plop down. Her eyes met Shikamaru's, and she smiled at him. "Thank you for loving my furbabies today."

A smile flared up on Shikamaru's face, as he crossed his arms. "I apparently don't have a choice remember?"

"That's right,"Sakura agreed as she yawned and closed her eyes. She was quiet for a moment, then she turned over on her left side. One arm going around Shadow. "I'm not even that tired..."

Sakura had trailed back off into silence, and finally it became apparent that she had fell asleep. Neji was the first to break the silence, and whisper finally. Both he and Shikamaru moved to walk out of the room. Once out in the hall, he looked at his watch. "I could probably go ahead and leave. She'll be out for a few hours, and I'm sure Hinata will be stopping by once she wakes up. Of course I can already see Hinata thinking I abandoned Sakura, and she'll be less than pleased with me… No offense by the way. I'm sure at one point you'll be able to take care of Sakura when she's like this all on your own, but she can be a handful when you don't have the experience."

"No offense taken," Shikamaru replied with a chuckle. They had reached the living room. Both his parents were out, and the house was quiet. Looking over to Neji, he motioned to the small table he and his dad liked to play shogi on. "If you want to stick around, we can pass the time, and play a game or two."

Nodding after a moment, Neji moved towards one side of the table. "Sounds good to me."

A couple hours past midnight

Feeling a twinge of pain in her side was what woke Sakura up about half an hour ago. Since then she had been increasingly uncomfortable in her side, and her head was throbbing with a headache. Hearing her dogs snoring only irritated her more, as she wished she could join them. She thought about taking some medicine, but for the life of her she couldn't remember when she took her last dose.

Finally after another moment, she decided to get up. She tried to maneuver around Shadow, but she woke him up anyways. "Sorry baby," she apologized, as she stroked his head for a moment. Reaching to the floor she picked up her shorts, and moved to slip them on under her loose t-shirt. Feeling pain in her side had her pausing, but after a moment she pushed through and pulled her shorts the rest of the way on. Grabbing her pill bottles from her bed, she left her room.

Padding down the hall to the next door down to her right, she opened the door slowly, and stepped into the dark room. The curtains pulled over the window made it even harder to see, but having been in the room before she had a somewhat good idea of where she was going. When her knees hit the side of a bed, she moved to sit down on it. Leaning over a bit, she hesitated for a moment. "Shikamaru?"

It took a few more times of having to say his name for him to finally wake up. He was actually rather startled, as it was dark in the room. But, once his eyes adjusted a bit more, he found himself looking at Sakura, then his clock, then back to her. "What are you doing? It's not even two-thirty in the morning."

"I'm bored," was Sakura's calm reply. Her legs were crossed, and she was having to sit up a bit straighter due to her abdomen throbbing.

Staring at her in silence for a long moment, Shikamaru rubbed his face. "So because you're bored, you woke me up to what? Entertain you?"

"Well, I mean what else was I supposed to do Shikamaru?" Sakura countered, as if this was the most obvious thing to do.

Sighing heavily at her words, Shikamaru closed his eyes, and let his head fall back on his pillows. "You're ridiculous."

"Thank you," Sakura said, nodding her head once. They sat there in silence for a moment, then she remembered something. "Oh yeah, my side really hurts, and so does my head. When was the last time I took my medicine?"

Pushing himself to sitting up now, Shikamaru turned more towards her. "You should have started with that when you first woke me up."

"I didn't think about it," Sakura replied, then she lifted up her hand with her pill bottles and shook them. "Anyway, I'd really like you to tell me when the last time I took my medicine was, because this pain is helping in preventing me from sleeping."

Sighing, Shikamaru reached over to his bedside table, grabbed a glass of water he had brought to bed with him, and held it out to her. "You can take some now. It's been about six hours since you last took some."

"Thank god," Sakura said, popping the lids off her pill bottles. She took her dose of pills out, and practically slapped them into her mouth. Taking the glass of water Shikamaru offered, she took a few sips to get the pills down, then handed the glass back to him. "These need to start working as soon as possible."

Shikamaru watched Sakura screw the caps back on her pill bottles, then put them on the bedside table on the other side of the bed than him. "That's the first time you've taken your medicine voluntarily."

"Yeah, well I actually needed it this time," Sakura said, as she moved to slip her legs under the covers. When she heard the footsteps of Shadow and Tank coming into the bed, she patted the bed. "Come on boys."

"No-" Shikamaru stopped when the dogs did jump on the bed. Making themselves comfortable at the foot of it. Looking over to Sakura, he frowned. "Thanks."

"What else was I supposed to do? Make them sleep on the floor?" Sakura countered him. Moving to adjust the pillows behind her at a slight angle, she laid back on them, and wiggled a bit to get comfortable.

Watching her get comfortable, Shikamaru sighed after a moment. "This is my bed, you know that right?"

"You're supposed to be entertaining me, you know that right?" Sakura shot back, a smile on her face.

Rolling his eyes, Shikamaru shook his head. "Right… You were unnecessarily drunk most of the day."

"I don't recall."

"Shocker," Shikamaru said, laughing at the thought of her drunk. "You put Neji through hell."

"Neji can handle it," Sakura replied before laughing herself. "I've conditioned Hinata and Neji to handle my crazy… You, on the other hand, are a work in process."

Shikamaru joined in with Sakura's laughter. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"It can be good for now, unless this training goes horribly wrong," Sakura said, shaking her head, as she laughed again. "If that is the case, then I'm not taking credit for teaching you."

"That's okay, I'd probably learn better from Hinata or Neji anyways," Shikamaru replied back through his laughter, and he had to dodge her trying to hit him. When his laughter died down, he sighed. "Am I going to have to expect this from you tomorrow?"

"Expect what?"

"You resisting taking your medicine, then you having to result to getting drunk in the middle of the day."

Shrugging at first, Sakura yawned, and closed her eyes. "I'll decide tomorrow morning. You'll just get to be surprised."

It was quiet for a moment, then Shikamaru spoke up again. "Why can't you sleep?"

Without opening her eyes, Sakura turned her head towards Shikamaru. "Who said I couldn't sleep?"

"It's almost two-thirty in the morning, and you're awake and apparently bored." Shikamaru replied.

"Well," Sakura started, as she yawned again. "I woke up, and apparently however I was sleeping was irritating my injury, because it hurt. I tried to get comfortable again to go back to sleep after that, but it wasn't working. So I got up and came over here- Oh and my head is pounding, but that's due to my day drinking."

Humming in response, Shikamaru was quiet again for a couple minutes this time. "Well I guess that's a good enough reason to not be asleep. But coming over here and waking me up? No, that needs a better reason." When nothing was said after a minute, he focused more on Sakura, and realized she had fallen asleep. Watching her for a moment, he finally laid back down himself, and turned on his side to face her. Once again he watched her, this time he reached over and pushed her bangs out of her face. After another moment, he turned over so he was on his other side, and closed his eyes.

A couple days later, 2nd of June

"See I'm all better," was the first thing Sakura said, after doing a flip over one of the couches to prove to Shikamaru that he could stop bothering her about her injuries. However, as soon as she turned away from him, she brought a hand to her side. "Ow."

"I heard that," Shikamaru pointed out. Having been slightly alarmed at her suddenly doing a flip like that, but he had to admit that she was better. She just wasn't a hundred percent yet.

"Bite me," Sakura shot back, then proceeded to stick out her tongue at him. Walking past Shikamaru, she moved to the open front door. All of their work stuff was out on the front porch, as they decided to do work outside today. "I still don't want to hear anything else about my injuries, are we clear?"

"We'll see," was Shikamaru's reply, chuckling as he watched her walk outside. Hearing her talking to her dogs, had him smirking.

"Hm," was his mother's hum from where she was currently drying off a plate to put in the cabinet. "She's feeling better."

Shikamaru shrugged, as he walked to the refrigerator to grab a couple water bottles. "Yeah, after two days of being forced to relax, I'm sure she's managed to heal up a little bit."

Laughing at her son's words, Yoshino put up the plate she was working on, and reached over for her glass of iced tea. "It was nice of you to spend so much time with her over the past couple days to make sure she was relaxing. You missed training and everything."

"Well," Shikamaru started, as he paused by the counters. "It's not that big of a deal. I voluntarily skip training all the time. Plus, it was a lot more work to take care of her than I signed up for… But I guess it wasn't completely terrible."

Smiling at her son's words, she moved to grab some pots and pans out of one of the lower cabinets. "I'm going to start on dinner, you better go out there and get that paperwork done if you and Sakura plan on eating with us tonight."

"We don't even have that much more to do," was Shikamaru's reply, as he moved to go out on the front porch. Having to step over Baby, who was laying in the open doorway.

Yoshino watched her son through the windows. She watched him go over to Sakura, and hold out one of the water bottles he grabbed. She smiled when she heard Sakura thanking her son for bringing her water, and she laughed when she heard her son telling Sakura to not make a big deal about it, and that she was acting as if it was some grand gesture. Shaking her head, her smile remained on her face, as she turned to grab some chicken out of the freezer for dinner.

Outside, a half hour later

Having started back to work, Sakura and Shikamaru got most of the paperwork done. Confirming people they were hiring for the event, and it was things like contracts and lists of things the people would be responsible for during the party and the festival. They had been pretty focused on work, apart from the small breaks of eating Sakura's bag of sour gummy worms.

"Looks like we're out," Sakura said, as she looked at her empty bag. A slight smile on her face. "Looks like you like these more than you said you did."

"Yeah, I guess they weren't that bad," Shikamaru shrugged, a smirk appearing on his face. "Your candy addiction is ridiculous. You are ridiculous."

That had Sakura laughing. "You say that to me a lot, but I'm still not finding out why it's a bad thing."

"Of course not," Shikamaru said, joining in with her laughter. When their laughter died down, he looked towards the front door. The door was still cracked open for the dogs and Baby to go in and out. Through the windows he could see his mom was still working on dinner, and his dad was sitting at the bar after he had returned home from working with council. His eyes went back to Sakura. "Let's go get some more."

Raising an eyebrow at Shikamaru's suggestion, Sakura moved to sitting up from where she had been laying on her stomach. Shadow and Tank had both been alerted to her movement, but they rested their heads back down. "We still have a good bit of paperwork to do."

Glancing back to his parents through the window, Shikamaru smirked when he looked back to Sakura. "Well I know my mom's still got another half hour to marinate the chicken, and it'll probably be another hour on top of that before dinner is done. We have time to take a little break."

It was quiet for a moment, before Sakura smiled. "Even if we didn't have time, you'd probably still be all for taking a break."

"You know me so well," was Shikamaru's reply, as he reached out a hand to her. "Come on."

"Stay here boys," Sakura told Shadow and Tank, then she took Shikamaru's hand, a smile on her face.

Inside the house over by the kitchen, Yoshino was cutting up some vegetables to roast in the oven. Her eyes went over to the windows to look out on the front porch. Focusing in on her son and Sakura, who were standing up.

"So," her husband's voice hit her ears, as he walked over from having just came out of the hall their bedroom was off of, that was just near the kitchen. He leaned against the counter top slightly, his eyes also over on the windows. "Are you going to stop them from leaving? Because it sounds to me they probably won't be back in time to finish all that work before dinner."

It was quiet for a moment, then Yoshino smiled and shook her head. "No. It's a nice day, and they did get some work done. More than I thought they would-" She broke off at the sound of Sakura's laughter. Shikamaru telling her something about not being good at sneaking off. Which of course Sakura argued back that she was to good at it.

Shikamaru's dad studied his son and that pink haired woman. A smirk on his face at how he heard his son and Sakura laugh, as they walked down the front walkway. "She's something else that's for sure."

A little over half an hour later

Sitting down on the grassy hilltop, Sakura laughed after a moment. "Okay, so when did going to get more candy turn into an adventure?"

"You like adventures, remember?" Was Shikamaru's reply, as he sat down next to her. Eying the view of his spot. The pond was lower than usual, as it hadn't rained in a while. But the view was still just as he liked it. "Besides, I figured my parents are aware that we left, as your loudmouth probably got their attention as we were leaving."

"I keep telling you that I wasn't that loud-"

"You wouldn't stop laughing, and it had your dogs barking from the porch," Shikamaru interrupted, a smirk on his face, as his eyes met hers. "I'm pretty sure I made eye contact with my mom trying to drag you away from the porch."

That had a grin growing on Sakura's face, as she reached into the new bag of sour gummy worms. "I can't help it. I feel like whenever I have to be serious, my brain makes me do the opposite."

"Remind me never to cross a volcano with you."

"Why would we ever have to cross a volcano?"

That had Shikamaru laughing, as he reached over to take a gummy worm out of the bag. "It was just the first thing that popped into my head."

"Right," Sakura said, laughing along with him. When her laughter stopped, she bit into her gummy worm, and watched him do the same to his. "I'm turning you into a candy addict."

Smirking after he ate the gummy worm, Shikamaru rested his hands back on the grass behind him to relax. "I can't wait until I attend the first meeting of the candy addict anonymous group. You're probably a seasoned member just like for alcoholics anonymous."

"Shikamaru!" Sakura exclaimed, lightly hitting his shoulder, but she laughed at it. "I am not an alcoholic! No matter how much Ino makes me sound like one."

Rolling his eyes, Shikamaru's smirk grew. "I hate to break it to you, but you've proven it yourself over the past few weeks. Ino has nothing to do with this one. If you don't believe me, let me just remind you of someone who was completely drunk in the middle of the day a couple days ago."

Sakura was quiet for a long moment, then she finally grinned and moved to lie back on the grass. "So what if I like to drink every once in a while? That doesn't mean I'm an alcoholic."

"Sure it doesn't," Shikamaru said while chuckling. After a moment he found himself observing her again. Her eyes were closed, and she was enjoying her candy. His eyes went back forward, and down towards the bottom of the hill by the pond. Thinking about how they met up there a month ago today. A smile appeared back on his face, as he thought about the conversation they had. "You know, you're making yourself awfully comfortable for being a guest here."

Laughing at him bringing that up, Sakura found herself thinking back to the last time they were here. Her eyes met his when he turned his head to look at her. "Aw, you remembered that you upgraded me from being a trespasser. I'm touched."

That had them both laughing. When their laughter died down, Shikamaru took a gummy worm, and lied back on the grass next to Sakura. Staring up at the clear blue sky with a smile on his face.

A/N: There you have it everyone! Another chapter in the books. I was really pleased with the last scene, but I think my favorite was when Neji came over to keep an eye on Sakura. What was your favorite scene?

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