A/N: Day twenty. Ten more days to go until the story's over, I think.
Despite his intellect, he thinks it should be expected when there are still some things that baffle him. Like why his cousin puts mustard on boiled eggs and actually thinks it tastes good, or when his mother cooks with a villainous smile even though she's not going to kill anyone with her cooking.
The most baffling though, is probably Sakura. He knows many things about her, like how she eats any kind of cereal with an absurd amount of sugar and that she has a particular smile meant only for him. He knows that she's leagues ahead of him in terms of being a ninja, that she has a hard time caring about strangers and that the act of killing does nothing to her.
There are many things he knows, yet… She still baffles him.
"So you and Sakura-chan are still together?" his mother queries at the table, during breakfast. It's not an uncommon question, as she asks it every few months just to make sure. He sees the twinkle in her eyes, the way she smiles because she thinks it's adorable. Others ask as well, and their reactions are starting to bother him simply because of how frequent he's asked that particular question.
Shikamaru hums in confirmation, his eyes still squinty from sleep. "Yeah. She's on a long term mission right now, so I won't see her until December at least." he replies with a drawl, running a hand through his unbrushed hair. "Hopefully I'll be a chuunin by the time she gets back."
He may be a little salty towards Ino, whom he specifically advised not to use her clan techniques during the first stage of the Chuunin Exams. Even if their opponents seemed troublesome, some selfish part of him wanted to go through with it because Sakura was there.
She was stressed then, because she had been in charge of them all. Out of their group, the only ones whom she really talks to are Naruto, Sasuke and him if he excludes her brothers. The others have always just been there, people whom she doesn't care to really get to know and bond with.
Then when the 'group' had expanded with the genin teams of her brothers, he could see how much she didn't want to do any of it.
"Must be difficult, knowing that she's always on high risk missions." his father remarks, propping an elbow on the table and getting reprimanded for his lack of table manners. "Has she been taking breaks?"
Shikamaru shrugs his shoulders, tilting his head and rubbing the side of his neck. He used to worry all the time for her safety, but now he's just been anxious having to deal with going so long without seeing her. The longest used to be a month or two, at most. Now, he's not going to see her for most of the year.
He worries more about when she's finally going to lose interest, when they're going to finally separate and all of that other vexing stuff. They've talked about this, but it still bothers him. More so than the fact that their friends are actually betting on them getting married. Now that's just way, way too far into the future and something they're not going to think about for a while.
"Maybe you should get some favour from her father." his mother gasps, again getting one of her ideas stuck in her head. He groans, because he can never go against her. "Yes! I'll make up some lunch and you go deliver it to their house!"
"Her father's rarely home though…" he tries, unsuccessfully as she jumps up and rushes into the kitchen. He turns to his father, who simply shakes his head and smiles. Shikamaru often thinks that his parents got married as young as they did because his mother is decisive and stubborn.
He lets out a heavy sigh, but supposes that he might as well try even if Sakura's father isn't home. He can at least say he tried without lying, then.
There's someone sitting on the roof when he emerges from the hidden path to the isolated house, and for a moment he thinks it's Sakura before he realises that it's not. Their hair is too long and too dark, but from a distance it really does look like her.
As he comes closer, they abruptly disappear from the roof before reappearing at the entrance of the house. He can't help but flinch as he meets wide and intimidating eyes, the irises an indigo shade and the pupils unusually miniscule. Then his own eyes are drawn to the smile that appears on the familiar but unfamiliar face.
A shiver makes his spine tingle, as he feels something entirely wrong about the girl who bears a strange resemblance to Sakura. Even the seal on her forehead is the same, if a little darker.
"Gummy pineapple!" the girl rasps, with a scratchy and immediately unsettling voice. She flips her hair over of shoulder in an almost exuberant fashion, and he thinks it might be the shade of berry. He's not sure, since it's been a while since his mother tried to explain colour shades to him. "What brings you here, hm?"
Shikamaru frowns, holding out the bentou box. "Uh, kaa-san wanted me to deliver this to Sakura's father… Who are you?" because he's never seen her before and he's sure he would remember. Being in her presence is… incredibly uncomfortable.
The girl tilts her head, shifting her crazy and insomniac gaze somewhere into the distance. Her expressions are strangely vivid, lively in an unnatural way. "Should I, yeah? Well, whatever." she returns her attention to him, unfortunately. "I, gummy pineapple, am the spirit temporarily tied to this house via a mad seal I made. I was bored and decided to experiment to see if I could still interact with the living world in a… form of my own, you know? I also wanted to fuck with silver bun, even if that might be detrimental to his mental health."
He blinks, not having expected the peculiar intonations to her words. Her hands are everywhere, making her so very animated. It's wrong, he thinks. Something's just… off.
"You're… a spirit?" he feels his expression morphing into something of disbelief, and a part of him thinks he should have just stayed home today. "So… Why do you look like Sakura?" because it's really starting to concern him. He realises he still didn't get a name.
She raises a brow, before clicking her tongue and placing a hand on her hips. She doesn't look that much older than him, he notes. "How about we talk more inside, yeah? The honey bunny papa bear is out, but he should be back at some point. Probably, my sense of time is fucked." then she turns and her hand disappears through the wood of the door. "Ugh, fuck me!" she curses, before retracting her hand and successfully grabbing onto the doorknob.
Shikamaru just wanted to deliver food and go home. Maybe train a little, before going on to feed the deer. He doesn't want to deal with this.
"Right, it's locked." she sighs, holding a finger towards him before walking through the door. He blinks again, hearing something click before the door opens and she appears again. "'Kay, get the fuck inside already."
He listens, if only because he feels like she could snap her fingers and he would die for no reason other than because she could. "You still haven't… told me your name." he tells her as she shuts the door and grabs the bentou box so that he can remove his shoes.
The… spirit blinks at him, and he realises how glassy and empty they really are. She grins, though her teeth are nice and straight rather than toothy as he feels it should be. "You're doing well, going along with the flow of things, yeah. For some reason I want you to call me Shinra, fuck if I know why. Probably something I watched ages ago but can't remember, yeah. Or maybe it was my name, a long time ago."
'Shinra' leads him down the hall, then into the kitchen where she opens the fridge and puts the bentou box inside. He tries his best not to shift as he looks around, realising that the silence is almost suffocating. She then leads him to the lounge room, practically falling onto one of the couches and implying he should sit as well.
She props up an elbow, then smiles at him with a raised brow. He frowns at her, finding this entire situation bizarre because she's apparently a spirit, somehow connected to the Haruno family and looks like his girlfriend. Sakura's never talked about it, although he supposes that it would be quite an unusual thing to talk about without a lot of questions being asked.
"I'm honestly tempted to see inside your head, maybe fuck with it a little to see how sugar bean will react to you breaking up with her, yeah." Shinra remarks, her smile turning devious. She knows that she's making him uncomfortable, he can see it in her eyes. She waves a dismissive hand with a sigh. "But no, I'll be nice. After all, she set this up for me whilst she's off going on missions even though I told her there could be some negative effects."
"You're talking about Sakura, right?" he's rubbing his neck again, and he sees how she takes notice of it immediately. If he stops, it'll feel like she's won some kind game. He doesn't like people like that, because everything's a game to them. "Would you tell me your connection to her?"
Shinra sits up, crossing her legs on the couch and stretching her back. "If I do, you know that you'd have to keep it to yourself otherwise sugar plum might be put at risk. Then it'd be all your fault, yeah." she cackles, before waving her own comment off before he can really register them. "No, that's a stretch. I'd tell you a lot of things, my man, but that's up to jelly bean since she's your girl, yeah." she abruptly gags, to his surprise. "Ignore that."
Shikamaru scratches his head, his frown almost becoming painful with how bemused he is. He's feeling a mix of things, which is sort of making him sick. "Have you always been… here? In this house?" he knows he's asking a lot of questions, but she doesn't seem to mind.
She leans back and yawns. "Nah, not like this anyway. This is experimental, yeah. This form's like ten minutes away from dissipating, since that's when I think it'll start having negative effects on sugar bean. You caught me at a good time, actually. I should've probably just wait until it's time, yeah, since it's possible that she'll get an aneurysm with us being so far apart even though we're still connected. The seal was meant to help her cope with the distance, but I can feel that she's struggling. Perhaps we should have waited until after her mission's done yeah, but ah well. At least I know the distance."
He takes a calming breath, before looking up at her. He glances at the higanbana, then the seal in particular as she twirls a lock of her hair around her finger. She's even wearing similar clothes, although that's probably because it's ANBU wear and it's basically a uniform.
"Are you… Are you the reason she always keeps her chakra concealed?" he queries, then flinches when she gives him a horrific grin.
Shinra leans forward, and he doesn't want to look into her eyes. He feels like it's worse than looking at an Uchiha in the eyes with their Sharingan activated. The mere prospect that someone can surpass even them is petrifying. What does she see when she's looking at him?
"So smart, gummy pineapple." she praises with a chuckle. He doesn't feel all that proud. "Well, I've given you some shit to think on even if that was completely unintended, ha." she stands, walking towards him then vaulting over the couch he's occupying. "I'm going to disappear soon, so you'd better get going, yeah. Unless you want to snoop, but I doubt you'd want to."
Shikamaru nods, though it feels rigid. "I've stumbled upon something troublesome, haven't I?" he sighs, following her to the entrance of the house. She sways as she walks in a straight line, adding onto one of the many quirks of her personality.
If her personality's even real, because there's something fundamentally wrong with her. Not just because she's a… spirit or whatever. Although the concept isn't that hard to swallow considering she can walk through doors and her form's starting to become transparent and illuminate.
"Oh, fuck yeah. But you're intelligent." she turns towards him, with a tilt to her head. "I'm going to give you the chance to walk out of here, with your mind untouched since sugar plum would be pissed off with that. Don't make me regret that, yeah?"
It's a warning, there's no question about it. So he nods, glad as he realises that his brief experience with her could have gone much worse. "You're not going to harm her, are you?" he questions her, unable to quell the concern even though it's being implied that they're well acquainted and get along to a certain extent.
Shinra blinks, and for a moment the air feels cold. "I already have, gummy pineapple. She is the way she is because I've had quite the influence on her, yeah." she smiles, opening the door and giving him the strangest sensation that she's holding open a door to something horrifying. "Not entirely, of course. There are many things that are her own, you know? Like how she cares about you. I find it… well, baffling. So much caring and trust, built without the tampering of the mind."
Her smile falls and his heart constricts. "I think envy that, yeah. So much so that I want to rip it apart, but I won't. She's not moralistic or a saint, but she's turned out to be so much better than I ever thought, even when I've had such a large influence on her life. I want to crush her as much as I want to treasure her for that reason, you know?"
Then she chuckles, pushing him out the door just as she's about to fade entirely. "I wonder what you'd do if you knew everything." she murmurs, before shutting the door and locking it.
Shikamaru leaves with a feeling of being sort of traumatised, wondering what the hell just happened and how he's going to deal with that until Sakura comes back.
He's been debating over whether or not to ask, because he knows that his father would immediately have suspicions as to why he's asking in the first place. It's been weeks, maybe even a month or so since that time. It's been impossible to not think on it.
"Hey, tou-san." he greets his father, feeling his stomach clench as he attempts to play it cool. It's difficult and troublesome. "Remember when you first said that Sakura looked like someone you knew. Who were you talking about?"
His father blinks down at him, and he can already see the gears turning. Maybe he'd get the question of why he's asking… but he hopes not. Lying's never worked in his family.
"Well…" his father frowns with a strange gleam in his eyes, before waving a hand to lead him to sit by the engawa. "I didn't really know her that well, mostly because I was in the standard forces and she was in ANBU. I did see her around sometimes and she'd engage in conversation with me. She and her sister were strange, but maybe that's just how they were in Uzushiogakure." his father shakes his head, probably reliving some unpleasant memories. "They'd both wear higanbana crowns, but she was the only one with that seal on her forehead. She was definitely the worse of the two sisters."
Shikamaru isn't sure how he feels about that information. "So Sakura looks like her because of the higanbana and seal?" because the differences in their personalities are quite drastic, unless Sakura's been hiding an insane side of her for years. He truly hopes not.
His father hums, looking up into the distance. "Yeah, that's mostly it. Although, from what I know Sakura has a similar skillset. Their personalities are completely different though. Sakura can be a little cold and hard to approach to some, but she's not bad. The girl I knew had an unnatural presence. People respected her abilities, but not many liked her. They feared her and I can't say that I didn't myself. She didn't feel like a comrade, but more like an enemy pretending to be one of us." he frowns, before chuckling. "I'm glad that Sakura's different though. I was worried at first, you know."
He thinks that he can agree with his father's description, if he remembers what it was like talking to her. He wants to tell his father, but he doubts that it wouldn't be reported to the Hokage and then Shinra would likely retaliate. She doesn't seem like the type to take betrayal lightly.
"Thanks for telling me." Shikamaru gives a slight smile, knowing that his father has questions but won't pressure him to answer them. "There's just been a lot on my mind lately. I've been thinking about some old things, like how Naruto used to marvel over how similar Sakura looks like his aunt. It just brought up some questions."
Naruto's aunt's name was… Shion, he thinks. It's probably her, though… he wants to know why.
His father thankfully takes the vague explanation, even though it's obvious there's more. Then a smirk is directed towards him. "Oh, my son. It's probably all the fault of puberty, because you're going though and experiencing fluctuating moods."
"Gah!" he exclaims, beginning to stand. "Enough about puberty, it's troublesome."
He hears his father chuckle as he walks away.
He thinks that the flak jacket is a little heavy, but it's not bad. He smirks, but it soon falls when he exits the Hokage's office and meets up with his teammates. His ears are immediately assaulted with Ino's explosive indignation. Chouji waves, prompting him to respond in kind as he attempts to prepare himself.
"Congratulations, Shikamaru." his best friend gives a soft smile, holding out his packet of chips in offering. Shikamaru takes one, before frowning over at Ino.
"Can you stop?" he sighs, unsure of whether to place a hand on her shoulder or not. "It's too late to complain now, you'll just have to try again next year." because she's really pissed about not getting promoted even though she thinks she's ready.
The fierce glare sent his way tells him that she's really not. "You shut your face, Shikamaru! How does a lazy bum like you get promoted and I don't? I mean, come one I've trained so much for this! I nailed it one this time!" she screeches, before being enveloped in a soothing hug from his best friend.
"It's okay, Ino." Chouji murmurs, petting her head as she begins to reluctantly simmer down. "We'll make sure to be promoted next time. We just have to work hard until then."
Shikamaru feels grateful towards his best friend, since it's hard to calm Ino down. Then he feels a tug in his chest, because he's reminded that it's been months since he last saw Sakura. He turns away, irritated with himself.
Their teacher appears in the distance, with his fellow jounin and girlfriend Kurenai. "Hey, Shikamaru. Congratulations on getting promoted, you did well." Asuma praises with a proud smile once they're close enough. He then turns his attention over to Chouji and Ino. "You guys did well, too. You two will pass on the next exam, I'm sure."
Kurenai turns to greet her own students that have appeared around the corner, since Shino and Hinata became chuunin as well. No luck for Kiba yet. "I'm proud of you guys." she tells them, ruffling their hair once they're close enough.
The Inuzuka clicks his tongue, his arms folding behind his head before he looks over to Chouji and Ino. His eyes light up with an idea. "Hey, you two! We should team up and smash the next Chuunin Exams, then we can show these guys!" he exclaims, joining in on the hug and making it a little awkward.
Ino huffs, pushing the other boy away. "Fine, but you better not hold me back!" she replies, with her usual sass.
Shikamaru sighs, before making his way over to Shino and Hinata. He doesn't mind Shino, even though he has a strange tone of speech. Sai's always had a formal way of speaking, then there's Sakura's father who's just really atypical in general. He can deal with odd speech quirks.
"Maybe we'll be working together sometime." he comments with an almost pained expression, trying to make conversation. Hinata gives a polite smile, that only feels a little genuine. Ah, he remembers. She has something against him for being associated to Sakura… who in turn is associated to Neji. How troublesome, he thinks.
Shino though, nods. "That would be likely. Why? Because we have been training together for a while now, as our teachers are dating and wish to be closer."
He glances over to the jounin couple conversing, but then looks away. He wants to groan, because being jealous is rather annoying. "Yeah, makes us compatible since we know a lot about each other's strengths and weaknesses." he mutters in response.
"We all should go celebrate together." Asuma suggests to them all then.
It'd be embarrassing to say no, then he'd have to explain that he doesn't want to be reminded that his own respective partner isn't around. That's just childish of him, so he grumbles and accepts along with the others.
At least she'll visit him the moment she gets a chance when she gets back. He looks forward to that, even if he's also nervous since he plans on asking her about Shinra... Or Shion.
Chapter Word Count: 3,708
Total Word Count: 65,985
Targeted Word Count: 0
A/N: I wanted to do Neji, but he's too much of a tsundere so fuck that. You get more Shikamaru for that reason. I don't know what I'm doing, I'm sorry.
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