A/N: hehehe…im so devious. Poor Shikamaru.
Chapter 12
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Sakura gently cleaned the small cut above Shikamaru's eyebrow. Her touch was careful as she bandaged it.
Shikamaru gazed at her through chocolate brown eyes. He noted her dress was clinging to her still wet skin as she knelt by his side. The genius surprised himself by suppressing the sudden urge to wrap an arm around her petit frame.
What was this? Morbid curiosity?
Somehow he had a feeling his comrades wouldn't be happy if he acted upon these foreign impulses. He already had a black eye to prove it.
Which he gladly let Sakura take care of for him, much to everyone else's chagrin.
Shikamaru vaguely thought about what had happened since he dragged Sakura through their door.
"Shikamaru, what did you do?" Sasuke asked through gritted teeth. Everyone had a frightening aura then was threatening to tear their living quarters down if he didn't speak soon.
He was about to explain, but it seemed the blush that heated his cheeks had just broke the camel's back. Someone, he's not sure who but he could've sworn it was Itachi, had grabbed him by the shirt and into the crowd of bloodthirsty males.
Oh the troublesome woes of Shikamaru Nara. And his face.
"Does it hurt a lot Shikamaru?" Sakura asked kindly.
"I'll be fine Sakura chan." He responded quietly.
"They seem mad."
"They are, believe me they are." But nowhere near as mad as what they will be when he tells them what happened.
"Is your knee ok?" Shikamaru asked her gently. He motioned to a scrape on her knee where she fell.
"Oh..I'll be fine, really." Sakura said. She was quiet for a moment and then asked hesitantly, "Shikamaru, why did you tell that guard…what you said." Blush coursed through her cheeks like fire. She knew the profit from what he said, but she also knew the grave consequences as well.
Shikamaru's cheeks burned equally as bad. "Erm…I knew it would've gotten you out of trouble; this whole mess is so troublesome. But I think it's bound to worsen." He ran his fingers through his thick brown hair; his hair band had come off on the desperate run over here.
The two headed back to the living room, where the others waited. Sakura suddenly felt a tension that needed to be soothed. "Umm, I'll make some tea." Sakura left in a rush, while Shkamaru sat down.
He ignored the glares Kiba, Naruto, Sasori, eh…why list it out, everyone was staring him down.
"Troublesome –," He muttered.
"Explain," Kakashi said authoritatively.
So Shikamaru began.
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Sakura parted the bushes, only to find a sleeping Nara Shikamaru under a tree. Why was he sleeping out here though? Sakura found herself wondering.
She knelt down to examine him. Jeez, he really was dead asleep, weren't soldiers supposed to be vigilant. What if she was an enemy soldier?
She looked at his face. His eyes were closed, and his long eyelashes brushed his cheeks. He had high cheekbones that made his jaw line look masculine. His complexion was smooth for someone who fought all the time. And Sakura marveled at his brown hair up in a ponytail. It was a darker, chocolate brown color that looked thick.
A dot a red passed her line of vision.
Sakura watched as a lady bug landed on his hair.
Couldn't he feel that? Sakura debated whether to try and get the nomad insect away off of him. She hoped he wouldn't flip out.
Like that one time she woke up Neji.
Sakura could still remember the scowl on his handsome face when she nudged his shoulder to tell him the others wanted him. It promised pain. Sakura wasn't fond of pain. And boy could those eyes turn scary.
"Oi, Sakura chan!" She heard Naruto yell from a distance away. Well, if she was against waking him up in the process of getting a bug off him, Naruto would surely wake him up with his loud voice.
"Naruto!" She said happily and stood up to greet her friend. She heard Shikamaru stir behind her as she ran towards his booming voice, the wet grass was soaking her flimsy shoes through.
She picked up her worn dress to meet the blonde, blue eyed soldier.
"Sakura chan, hows it going?"
"Good, Naruto!" she replied good-naturedly. Her smile was genuine as she questioned innocently. "Didn't you say you were going to train today?"
"Yea but, I wanted to see you instead, Sakura chan."
Sakura blushed "You're too good of friend Naruto."
Suddenly, Sakura felt someone from behind grab her shoulder and pull her behind them, all in the blink of an eye.
Naruto's smile slipped away into a smirk, then melted his expression into something more devious.
Shikamaru's baritone voice was all she heard, "That's not Naruto–,"
Shikamaru? She didn't even hear him get up! How did he – and what did he mean?
"Shikamaru, that is Naru –,"
"No its not. The real one is sparring right now with Sasuke."
Sakura gasped. Then who was - ?
"Congratulations. You've figured it out. As for whom do I work for - ? Well, for the Yamanaka household of course, just like you Miss Sakura."
There was a sudden cloud of smoke, and in it revealed a man she hadn't seen before. "And it turns out, Miss Yamanaka's petty fears were right, you have been involving yourself yet again with these young soldiers, isn't that right Miss Haruno?" Sakura felt stupid now. How could she have fallen in to his trap so easily? She scolded herself.
"…You're going to report this to her, aren't you?" Sakura jumped to a conclusion "Please don't sir, if you have any shred of heart in you, please don't. You know as well as I do, she's heartless and will do anything to get her way. She'll do bad things to me if she finds out about my friends," Sakura stood firmly and spoke with ardor. Her brows were furrowed and her eyes steely with resolve.
Honestly, Shikamaru didn't expect to see her stand there so strongly. Shikamaru never actually talked to the girl before this. But he always guessed she had a meek personality. She was quiet and shy, and always polite. He didn't know she had a passionate side like this. For some reason, he slightly admired this girl. Her attitude and passion was something he wanted to defend, she didn't deserve punishment for having friends, for God's sake.
His eye brows were slightly furrowed as he thought of a plan out of this situation.
The figurative light bulb flashed brightly over his head. He had a plan.
"Sakura chan," he said lazily and threw an arm over Sakura's shoulder.
Sakura sent him a questioning look, the spy too looked quizzical.
"You haven't told him yet," Before Sakura could ask what, he hurried and continued. "Servant of the malicious Miss Yamanaka, you or any of the nobles here won't lay a finger on her, after all Sakura is special to me. I won't let anyone I love get hurt because of someone's selfishness." He drawled lazily.
The spy's eyes widened and he looked back and forth between Sakura and Shikamaru. "You mean -,"
"Sakura chan is mine. You can tell that to the she witch."
Silence. Shocked silence.
"A – ah. Ok, then." The spy looked like he as searching for words, "I personally don't care about your love life, but Miss Yamanaka will. I have to warn you, she won't be safe at the mansion once the ladies of the house find out."
Shikamaru, who would've ordinarily thought this troublesome, already had seen this coming. His strategies were flawless. "She's living with me -" He held her tighter.
"- And Yamanaka can't do anything about it."
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There was a title wave of conflicting emotions. One was happiness. After all, Sakura was now living with them.
But the second was a lot more, how should it be put, hostile. "You told him what –," A furious Naruto said.
Sasuke sat beside Naruto, the same expression on his face. It was unusual because Sasuke wasn't that expressive with his emotions. All of the sudden, his emotions were as free flowing as Naruto's now.
And his brother, who was standing behind the crowd, looked for the most part rather impartial. However, Itachi's eyes were blood red with Sharingan, and the way his jaw popped probably wasn't that healthy.
Was that sand creeping towards Shikamaru?
"So you told him you were involved with Sakura?" Somehow Sasori managed to keep his eye from twitching.
Gaara, emtotinally constipated Gaara, found a whole new threshold of emotions at what Shikamaru had told them. He was happy Sakura chan was safe, but Shikamaru as Sakura's lover?
Something dull struck his heart, and something twisting and writhing like snakes formed in his stomach. Jealousy and hurt. All because Shikamaru had proclaimed he was Sakura's love interest.
No. No way. He refused to believe this was actually happening. His sand crept closer to Shikamaru, but halted when Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder, much like an older brother would.
The warning glance he received looked almost meager in contrast to the steely look in Kakashi's eye.
Right, he had to calm himself.
Sakura walked in with a pot of tea and cups.
"Ano…" Sakura bowed her head a little. "I'll do whatever it is you all want me to do. I'll earn my keep. I sware I -," but was cut off.
"It's alright Sakura chan." Said Kakashi. "Why don't you stay in Neji's room tonight; he has a spare cot in his room."
All eyes turned to Neji. Neji glared, "No she wo -," And was cut off from the look and fangs Kiba was giving him.
"Don't worry Sakura chan, Neji's gay. He doesn't even like girls." Kiba jested. Sakura missed the sharpness of the barb he sent flying.
"I'm not ga –"
Naruto started to laugh. "Yea, and anyway, you can hang out with me tomorrow! Neji is boring anyway."
The tension was lifted somewhat, but still lurked like an oncoming storm. "Oh, ok."
"Shut up, idiot." Neji said, and grabbed Sakura by the arm and lead her down the hallway.
Tense silence reigned.
"If he does anything to her, I'll kill him." It was to everyone's surprise that it was Itachi who said that.
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A/N:Neji is the last to get through, and then WAR! Woooot! Jk, war is not cool. Especially in this one it won't be. After the romantic humor, comes a little more serious drama, and perhaps an end to Ino and Karin because I hate them. Please review! And btw, there is a poll on my profile for the final vote for the end pairing! Please partake!
