Jezebel laid back on the sofa watching the minutes tick by on the wall clock wearily. With a heavy sigh she pushed herself up and stood up to fix the flowers in the coffee table vase restlessly. Shikamaru was at a meeting. Again.
It seemed as if he weren't on a mission, he was just in another meeting. She pressed her lips together and tilted her head to the side to observe the flowers carefully. Would the blue flower look better next to the purple flower or the pink flower?
She looked at the bag of things Shikamaru had left on the floor this morning and wondered if it might be too early to take them to the training ground. Psh, she rolled her eyes. Was there even such a thing as too early for Lee? Shikamaru had asked her earlier if she could take them by.
Picking the bag up, she pushed the door open and started heading towards the training fields. Who knew when he would be home? One day it was after an hour, another it was after twelve. She paused while she waited for a carriage to pass by, carrying a couple closed barrels. Across the street a man stared at her fixedly and she shifted uncomfortably under his steady gaze. Her pulse quickened when he stood up and started towards her slowly. Turning away she tried to walk causally but found herself running.
Looking back as she got down the road she stumbled, falling over Sakura.
"Wh-hey!" Sakura rubbed her head and winced. "What's the rush, Jezebel?"
Jezebel put a hand over her chest, trying to catch her breath. She looked back over her shoulder, no body; it was all in her mind. Tears threatened to well up, was she going crazy now? Sakura looked at her with concern.
"Hey, I'm sorry." Sakura said, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"
Jezebel shook her head and rubbed her eye with a weak smile. "No, I thought someone was chasing me."
"They weren't, were they? Because I'll show them a thing or two if I need to." Sakura furrowed her eyebrows with a serious look. "People are terrible these days, you can never be too careful."
"No," Jezebel pushed herself up with a smile, and offered a hand to Sakura. "It was nothing, I'm certain of it, thank you for your concern though. Are you okay?"
Sakura smiled back at Jezebel, taking her hand and picking her bag up. "Yeah, I'm alright. What's in the bag? If I'm not being too nosy."
Jezebel looked at Shikamaru's bag and blinked. "I'm not sure, actually. It's something's for Lee, Shikamaru wanted me to take it by."
"Well, I've got some free time. I'll walk with you if you'd like?" Sakura asked, hoping to help Jezebel feel more at ease. She did look a bit scared. Jezebel lit up at her offer.
"Sure!" She said cheerfully. She really liked Sakura, it was too bad she worked so much. "What've you been up to?"
"Oh you know, same old same old. A lot going on at the hospital without a lot actually going on, you know?" Sakura replied, smiling at her with arms folded behind her back.
Jezebel thought back to her own days at the hospital, it was probably one of the reasons she liked Sakura so much. She felt like maybe she would be able to relate to her better than any of the other women she had met so far.
"I do. The hospital was always like that for me; so many things to do but nothing ever there to really do." She replied. Biting her lip she turned her eyes up to the sky; she really hoped that made sense. She decided to change the subject. "Have you seen Naruto recently?"
"Oh yeah, the other day actually. We're all going to Yakiniku for barbeque later tonight. Naruto said he was going to ask Shikamaru and you to go too. You guys should come; it would be nice since we never get a chance to hang out."
Jezebel looked to Sakura brightly, the promise of friendship lighting her up. "I'd love to! Shikamaru loves that place too, so I'm sure he'll be up for it. Who all is going?"
Sakura turned her eyes up to think about it as they neared the training grounds. "Uhm…Well, me, Naruto, and Choji for sure, I'm not sure who else." She paused to think about it again. Ino would probably go if Shikamaru was but she didn't want to tell that to her. "Oh, I think he said something about Kiba too."
"Sakura! Jezebel!" Lee shouted with a big wave when he spotted them from across the training grounds. He rushed over to meet them, clearly out of breath from training, leaning forward with hands on his knees.
"Are you okay, Lee? Not training too hard I hope," Sakura asked.
Lee snapped up right with a hand on his hip, giving Sakura a bit thumbs up with his rosy cheeks and winking.
"Nonsense! There is never such a thing as training too hard!"
Sakura laughed awkwardly and sweat dropped. He's always so damn perky. She grumbled the thought in her mind with a forced grin.
Jezebel held out the bag to Lee. "Here you are! I believe this belongs to you?"
"Oh wonderful! I did not expect him to return this so soon!"
"What're you working on, Lee?" Sakura asked.
"Basic run through of physical training! I was just about to practice my kunai aim though."
Sakura blinked. "Why go through all that trouble though, don't you already have all that committed to muscle memory? That's all elementary stuff."
Jezebel looked up. Elementary stuff? Would that maybe mean it was something easy to learn? A smile crawled on her face.
"I do! But the extra practice could only improve my skill, isn't that right?" He chuckled.
"Hey, you said its basic stuff, right?" She shifted her weight hesitantly and they looked at her curiously. "Could you show me some things?"
"Sure! I do not see why not! Why not start with kunai throwing?" Lee asked with fists still on his hips and Jezebel nodded eagerly.
"Shikamaru never taught you anything?" Sakura asked with a tilt of her head while Lee pulled out some Kunai.
"He did, a little bit." Jezebel replied with a smile. "Not much, but he does want me to know some things just in case."
"I see! That makes sense. Even the Leaf village isn't always a safe place for a woman." Sakura nodded her head and lifted her hand in a small wave. "I'd better be going now though, my shift starts in an hour. I'll see you guys later!"
"Bye Sakura! I hope you have the most wonderful time at work and if you need help with anything please don't hesitate to ask!" Lee waved to Sakura brightly. Jezebel couldn't help notice the way he was with her, like the sun shined out of her ears. It was becoming more and more obvious how he felt for her and he found herself wondering why Sakura didn't seem to want to give him the time of day, he didn't seem like a bad guy to her.
"Right! Your first lesson in Kunai throwing is this!" He positioned himself to throw one at the large targeted stump in front of him. "No matter what, you must always throw with caution and focus. You need to have a delicate but firm grip always, no matter which way you adapt to gripping it!"
"Next, you'll want to observe what distance you are at. We are at a long range distance so you'll want to keep your wrist unbent and assume the proper stance. Observe how I am standing." He said, standing with legs apart and bent slightly, arm pulled back. "Aim for the target…then swing, but not too hard, the weight of the kunai will mostly build its own momentum."
Jezebel listened closely, nodding her head every so often. She watched the blade slide from his hand swiftly and hit the center of the target effortlessly.
"The reason it is important to keep your wrist unbent for a long range throw is because it keeps the blade from turning in the air, which could potentially throw off your aim, and when you're in battle that is just not something you can risk." He explained as she took the kunai he offered to her and then helped her grip it. "Try getting a feel for the weight a few times before you throw it." He suggested, guiding her arm out in front of her slowly, fixing her wrist anytime it started to bend.
"Very good!" He said encouragingly, "Now, I think you're ready to give it a try!"
She sent the kunai flying and it soared well past the massive stump, into the forest. A group of birds flew out from a tree in alarm and they both stared off with a sweat drop. Lee put a reassuring hand on her shoulder though and laughed.
"That was a good try! Do not worry! It is always difficult to get on the first try."
Jezebel's shoulders slumped forward. But I didn't even hit the stump.
Shikamaru sat in the stuffy meeting room just down the hall from the office of the Hokage, rolling his pencil back and forth over the papers in front of him. He knew he should have probably been sitting up and giving Tsunade's presentation his full attention but he also knew this particular meeting didn't really apply to him at all, not to mention it was boring his ears off. Why couldn't he just have stayed home? Maybe have a nice cup of tea…spend some time with Jezebel…play a little Shoji…maybe watch some clouds.
He stifled a yawn, turning a glazed look at the board Tsunade kept slapping a pointer at. The guys new to Tsunade's meetings kept jumping every time the pointer hit the board, but he'd gotten used to it. It was too bad he couldn't at least find some amusement from it, but he'd just seen it too often this past week. To be honest, It'd been a real drag at first, a hugely annoying habit she had, but now he could hardly hear it.
Temari sat across from him, equally as bored but paying more attention to Tsunade than he was, that was for sure. She furrowed her eyebrows, she couldn't believe him. He could at least act interested. She kicked his shin from under the table and he snapped upright.
"Ow!" He reaching down to rub his shin and glared at her from across the table.
"What?" Tsunade snapped at him and his head snapped towards her.
"Oh uh, nothing." He looked away; desperately hoping pink didn't tint his cheeks. He turned his glare back to Temari and she smirked. "Muscle spasm."
Tsunade just glared before she went on with her part of the meeting. She wasn't going to beat him up about that since the virus had in fact, left him with muscle spasms every now and then.
Shikamaru waited till Temari was paying attention to the presentation again before he drew his foot back and kicked her back in the shin. She jumped with surprise, her mouth falling open then glowered at him for a moment before she smirked and raised an eyebrow as if to say I thought you didn't hit girls.
He leaned forward to fold his arms on the table and smirked back at her. Had her thoughts been vocalized he probably would have responded with something of the nature of: Is that implying you are a girl?
She pursed her lips with a slightly irritated look, their unspoken conversation broken by Tsunade's loud voice.
"ARE YOU TWO EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!" She shouted, slamming her hand down on the table and scaring them both back into reality. She paused for a moment, looking between the two while they recollected themselves. "Now, you both will leave in a few days' time as opposed to what was first decided upon. The sooner we wrap this up the better."
Shikamaru's eyes widened a bit but then he sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right, the sooner this was wrapped up the sooner he could just lay back and not have so much to worry about. He pinched the spot between his eyes as a headache came on. Jezebel would be so upset though, she'd had her heart set on going to the upcoming festival with him…This was such a drag…
Temari walked home with Shikamaru discussing the mission at hand and agreed on a place to meet. He would meet her outside the village in the morning two days from now and travel back to the sand village with her.
As they came to stand outside of his door and Temari looked down at her shin.
"Well, thanks for the bruise."
"Don't mention it," He said with a smirk, "I guess I should say thanks for mine too. You know, I really hate to use physical force on a woman, but I guess I could just say it was self-defense."
"Self-defense?" She put her hands on her hips with a snort. "Defense for what? Your ego? You kick like a girl," She was about to continue when she saw Jezebel hurried towards them with bright eyes and a wide smile. "Well, there's the lady of the house. I'll see you later Shikamaru." She waved a hello to Jezebel as they passed each other.
Jezebel came to stop in front of Shikamaru with hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.
"Shikamaru!" She said, jumping up. Her face fell when she saw the look he had. "What's wrong?"
"Lady Tsunade's moved up the mission date. We're leaving Friday morning now instead of a couple weeks from now." He watched her softly, feeling heavy when her expression drop farther. Her mouth fell open like she were going to say something, but then she shut it again, looking off into the crowd quietly. He wondered what was going through her mind right now and wished she would just tell him, but then again, he'd come to know that she didn't do that in moments like this.
She pressed her lips together slightly and he breathed in heavily, putting a hand on her shoulder and kissed her cheek.
"I'm sorry Bell, I'll make it up to you another time, alright?"
She nodded her head and gave him a small smile.
"Of course, it's okay." She said and put her arms around him, trying to cover the pain that was building in her chest.
"Naruto invited us out for barbeque to night." He said, kissing her head and squeezing her tightly before pushing the door open to the house. "Sakura and Ino will be there, I think it'll be good for you to get out and get to know them better."
Jezebel nodded her head tightly and walked through the door of the house straight into the kitchen to make sure all the dishes were cleaned. They were. She scrubbed at a clean plate in the sink regardless.
"That sounds nice. Sakura told me about it earlier today," Jezebel said from the kitchen, "She went with me to drop that bag off to Lee today and he taught me to throw a kunai." She walked back into the living room to curl up beside him on the sofa and nuzzled into his chest. She was thankful for the time she did have with him at least.
"Really?" He smirked, thinking back to the time he'd tried to teach her the same thing. "How'd that go?"
"I'll have you know I hit the target." Jezebel raised her nose defiantly to his tone.
"Really? How many times you hit it?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and watched her hold back a sheepish smile. He knew her too well.
"Once," She said matter-of-factly. "At the end."
"Great, you'll be able to compete with the academy students in no time." He smirked with a chuckle and she gave him a small punch in the arm.
"Hey! Shikamaru!" Ino waved happily from the door of Yakiniku where she stood beside Sakura. "Oh, hi Jezebel." She grinned forcibly, just noticing her.
The corner of Jezebel's mouth twitched into a forced smile, not missing that. "Hi. Ino."
Oh geez. Shikamaru rolled his eyes with hands stuffed into his pockets as he approached her.
"Ow!" Ino snapped when Sakura elbowed her in the side.
"Have you guys seen Naruto?" Sakura asked, glancing down at the watch on her wrist. "He was supposed to meet us fifteen minutes ago."
Shikamaru shrugged. "You know Naruto." He smiled slightly seeing Choji and Kiba approach.
"Hey guys! Whatsup?" Kiba asked.
Akamaru barked his hello and Choji waved with his mouth full from the chips he was stuffing into his mouth. Choji looked around with confusion and swallowed.
"Where's Naruto? I'm starving."
"Late as always." Ino grumbled and sent a miffed look at Sakura for elbowing her.
Jezebel stood beside Shikamaru and shifted awkwardly, looking from person to person when they spoke.
Maybe this was a bad idea; maybe she should have just stayed home. There were a lot of people here. This is what she wanted though, right? When she was still held back at Shiro's , isn't this what she always dreamed of? Getting out with a big group of friends and just having a good time? Having freedom? She bit her lip and looked into the window of the restaurant uncertainly.
Sakura spotted her nervous expression and moved to stand beside her with a smile while the others spoke. As far as she knew, Jezebel was just a quiet girl, which Sakura didn't find surprising for Shikamaru. She always figured if he didn't let his passiveness land him a loud-mouth he'd always end up with a quiet girl. Though she had to admit Jezebel seemed more than just quiet sometimes but in all honestly not much different than Hinata. They would probably be good friends, she thought.
"Hey Jezebel, how did the kunai thing go?"
Jezebel seemed to snap back to reality, a smile jumping on her face. "Good! I'm picking up on it!"
"That's great, I'm glad to hear it." She looked up at Naruto running towards them followed at a distance by Temari.
"Hey guys!" He shouted, coming to a halt beside them, Temari approaching more slowly. She locked eyes with Jezebel and smiled; Jezebel's stomach sank slightly. "Sorry we're late! I wanted to invite Temari too, you know, while she was still in town."
"DON'T YOU KNOW IT'S RUDE TO KEEP PEOPLE WAITING, NARUTO?!" Sakura snapped at Naruto with a clutched first then smiled at Temari. "I'm glad you could make it though, it's nice to see you!"
"Thank you, I'm glad I could make it." She replied politely.
The night went by slowly but happily with Choji eating more than his body weight in barbeque and him and Kiba wrestling over pieces of meat before he ate it all.
"Hey! Save some for me, man!"
"But I'm so hungry!" Choji protested, trying to reach over Kiba's arm with his chopsticks. "I've hardly eaten anything all day!"
"You ate a five course meal at lunch today!" Kiba retorted, pushing Choji back and trying to grab some meat for himself. "I was there!"
Sai ended up coming too. Naruto had invited him but hadn't expected him to show up. Jezebel watched him, amused when he called Ino beautiful and Sakura raged. Shikamaru debated with Naruto over some sort of intricate ninja thing she didn't quite understand and she blew on a piece of freshly cooked spicy pork before trying to take a bite. She made a sound incredibly similar to a squeal, putting it down quickly when she burned her tongue and sucking on her drink.
Shikamaru stopped in the middle of his debate to look to Jezebel and see that she were okay before he started talking again. Ino jumped into the debate, soon followed by Temari, who seemed to agree with Shikamaru on whatever he was defending.
Jezebel looked between the debaters quietly, chewing her now cooled pork slowly with envy pricking at her skin. She suppressed a sigh and set another piece of meat over the hot charcoals to cook. It would have been nice to have some sort of clue what they were talking about but she pushed the thought away, brushing her knee against Shikamaru, feeling him next to her always comforted him.
Sai chuckled, a cheery smile on his face when he looked to Naruto.
"You're quite loud, aren't you?"
"HEY BUDDY WATCH WHAT YOU—" Naruto was cut short by Sakura hitting him.
"GRRR BE QUIET NARUTO YOU'RE DISTURBING THE OTHER PEOPLE!" She shouted back.
Jezebel couldn't help thinking that Sai was terribly bad at catching on.
A waitress came by to pick up the remaining dishes and take their order on drinks. As the night went on Sai and Ino left and the rest of them eventually ended up in the bar side of the restaurant with Kiba and Naruto playing darts while Sakura and Jezebel waited their turn.
Shikamaru moved the ice around in his drink while Choji and Temari chatted beside him at the bar, his eyes fixed on Jezebel. She finally seemed to be enjoying herself, not clinging to him so much. He took a sip of his drink and pulled a cigarette out to light. It wasn't that he particularly cared that she clung to him as much as she did, he just wanted more for her than that.
Of course, bouncing back wasn't easy for her considering she had nothing to bounce back from; it was completely redesigning herself from what she'd always known. He hoped that Sakura would continue to befriend her; she seemed to see what Jezebel needed.
"I've got to say, Shikamaru," He was pulled out of his thoughts by Temari. "I've always imagined you with a bossier woman."
Shikamaru snorted, "I don't know why people keep saying that, I really don't think I could survive another woman like my mother."
"They always say men marry their mothers," Her lips curled up humorously. "It wouldn't surprise me."
He only grunted a reply, lighting his cigarette.
"She's not very talkative, is she?" She nodded in Jezebel's direction.
"I guess…but she's getting there," He said a bit absent-mindedly, furrowing his brows when Kiba—who'd had a drink too many—slung an arm around Jezebel's shoulders and laughed loudly at something Naruto was picking at her for. He watched her face turn a few shades redder and almost went over there before he saw Sakura punch Naruto for the fifth time tonight.
Temari stirred her cranberry cocktail with the little straw that came with it and thought about what he said. Getting there? She popped the straw into her mouth thoughtfully and turned her eyes up to the TV in the corner of the bar.
"What do you mean by getting there?" She asked, though she probably wouldn't have asked if she hadn't been on her third drink.
The corner of Shikamaru's mouth pulled back and his lips formed a thin line. "What do you think I mean? It sounds pretty obvious to me. She's becoming more talkative, she just needs to relax a little bit, make some friends, that's all." He shrugged and leaned back in his chair with an arm over the back, watching the TV.
"So she lacks friends, then?" Temari raised an eyebrow. "Must be tough on her with you gone so much."
He sighed heavily. "Must you ask so many questions? It's such a drag…"
She giggled, "Well, sorrr-y. Drinking always has made me a bit loose lipped."
"Really? I couldn't tell."