Chapter 2

The early evening daylight shone brightly through the bedroom window, just enough to rouse Naome from her sleep. She shifted slightly to peak past the body next to her so that she could check the time on the bedside table clock. "Wow...it's almost 5pm already." She murmured quietly to herself. Her stomach growled, reminding her that they haven't eaten all day since breakfast, but that didn't matter, usually Shikamaru's mother would have dinner on the table by 5:30 anyways.

Instead, she decided to settle back down under the covers and peak over at the male next to her. Shikamaru was sleeping soundly next to her, with little light snores filling in the silences in the room. She couldn't help but smile, watching him sleeping so peacefully. It wasn't a new phenomenon, rather, it was a known fact that the genius enjoyed napping whenever he had the chance, and in turn, Naome made it her own habit as well. For some reason though, she always enjoyed waking up next to him, with his arm draped lazily over her waist, making her feel warm and protected. She allowed her mind to drift off, reminiscing how this had all started.

- Flashback -

The hidden leaf village was better than anything Naome could have imagined. The hospital staff were welcoming and extremely supportive in helping her walk again during the first two weeks in which she had to stay there. During that time, she had become particularly close to Sakura Haruno, who was her attending doctor during her recovery. Most of it was because of their similarity in age (she had learned that Shikamaru, Sakura, and the rest of their friends were merely a year younger than she was), and the hokage had asked Sakura to monitor this new visitor while she settled down in the village.

The only thing they were not able to help with though, and she discovered this during the first week of her stay, were the nightmares that kept replaying in her mind. It did not happen every night, but about three of four times a week, some worse than others. In fact, there wasn't much the hospital staff could do. It wasn't like Naome was placed under a genjutsu, she was simply reliving the experiences that haunted her from her past.

"Here you go! This is your room Naome-chan." Mrs. Nara smiled warmly as she wheeled Naome into the guest room of the house. "It isn't much, and you'll have to share a bathroom with Shikamaru, but at least he's right next door, so if you need something, don't be afraid to ask."

Naome couldn't help but be overwhelmed by a sense of warmth, but also guilt. Not only did she trouble Shikamaru in bringing her back into the village, now his family would be stuck hosting an absolute stranger in their house, not to mention, one that could not even take care of herself.

"Thank you Mrs. Nara." Naome said, vowing in her mind to somehow repay this woman one day. She turned to the figure standing quietly at the door behind them. "Thank you, Shikamaru-kun."

He gave her a look, shrugged, and turned to walk away. Naome couldn't help but flinch at the cold gesture. He really had not paid much attention to her since she was discharged from the hospital, and when they had found out she would be living with the Nara family. Naome could hear Mrs. Nara sigh next to her. "This boy. Where did I ever go wrong in my teachings? Please forgive him Naome-chan."

Naome turned to smile at the woman next to her. "It's okay, Mrs. Nara. I understand." To tell the truth, she didn't understand. It seemed from that moment on that Shikamaru would be giving her the silent treatment, until one night, he didn't.

It didn't take long for the nightmares to show themselves after she had moved into the Nara residence. They ranged in anything from watching her parents getting murdered in front of her, to growing up in an orphanage in the hidden rain village, often starving and being left all alone when there were not enough supplies to go around. She had nightmares of walking endlessly through the paths of the forests that she had travelled through, sometimes getting ambushed by bandits, shinobi, or worse...

One particular night, she had woken herself up from her own screams. She shot upright and slammed a hand over her mouth, muffling her own voice so that she wouldn't wake the family living with her. Her eyes scanned the dark room frantically, and sweat was pouring down her entire body. She felt particularly weak and vulnerable because she couldn't yet walk, and the images she had just seen were still playing through her head. She had been so preoccupied with fighting those visions off that she couldn't even hear the quick footsteps that were approaching her door.

She jumped, terrified as her door swung open. The tears in her vision only allowed her to see a silhouette of the figure. Her heart was racing, and she was beginning to panic, until…

"Naome? What's wrong?!" ...the voice gave her clarity.

Shikamaru approached her bed, turning on a bedside light along the way. For some odd reason, seeing him and hearing his voice, helped her calm down so that at least her breathing was no longer laboured.

"J-just a nightmare." She reassured him. This was the first time he had spoken directly to her, and still, Naome did not want to trouble him, especially now that she had woken him up in the middle of the night. "I'm okay. Sorry...for waking you up."

Shikamaru stared at her, almost blankly, for the next thirty seconds, only to decide, no, she was not okay. Her breathing had calmed, but her hands were still clutched tightly onto the bed sheet. Her cheeks had been stained with the streaks of tears that were running, and she still seemed to be sweating from whatever dream she was having. In fact, he was convinced that it wasn't just a dream, but multiple, because in the week that she had been here, he could hear her rustling and quieter screams throughout several nights.

What could he do though? Never had he been this close to a girl before, nonetheless trying to help someone in this particular scenario. Would she feel uncomfortable with him? Women were so complicated…What a drag…, but for some reason, he could not leave her alone. He slowly rose to his feet, but to Naome's surprise, he didn't leave. He sat down next to her, on the edge of her bed.

"Go to sleep…" he said, "I'll be right here."

Naome was about to protest but he gave her a firm look. Giving in, she laid back into bed, and shifted over ever so slightly so that Shikamaru would have more room for him to sit. She tried to obediently close her eyes and doze off so that she wouldn't bother Shikamaru anymore but alas, it was awkward for her to have him sitting there, waiting for her to fall asleep. Especially since he just let out a loud yawn.

"You don't have to-"

"Shut up and go to sleep."

"Are you going to be here the whole night?" She didn't know why she was asking. Or what she expected as an answer. To her surprise, he didn't even hesitate.

"If you want me to."

Did she want him to? She really didn't want to bother him, especially because she had heard from him a few times that women were a drag. For some reason though, she felt at ease with his presence. Just for tonight, she told herself, and before she knew it, she instinctively shifted over more, allowing Shikamaru to lie down next to her.

He switched off the bedside light, and Naome could see from the moonlight shining in from the window that he had shifted to face her, with his eyes closed. "Go to sleep now." He said, letting out a single yawn, before he dozed off himself.

Naome allowed her eyes to close as she concentrated on listening to his light snores filling the room, and for some reason, she found peaceful sleep that night for the first time in a while.

Little did the two of them know, Shikamaru's parents were watching from outside the doorway, with wide grins on their faces. They had been woken up by the screams too, but Shikaku had held Yoshino back from dashing into the room when he saw his son inside. "Finally, he's growing up," he told her.

- End flashback -

Once Naome had been able to walk again, rather than staying in her own room, she would often sleep in Shikamaru's bed whenever she had nightmares. The bed was bigger, and they had become much closer to one another. Eventually, he had gotten so used to it that his body almost instinctively knew when she would be coming over, and would make enough space for her, even draping an arm over her waist like he was doing now, before falling back asleep.

Naome was awoken from her thoughts by a slight pressure soft lips pressed against hers. "What are you thinking about?" Shikamaru asked, with his eyes still closed. She hadn't even realized he had already woken up from his nap. She took a quick glance at the clock before answering.

"Thinking about how we should get up now." She replied, making a move to get up, but she couldn't. She rolled her eyes when she knew what was happening.

"Shikamaru, release me." She groaned. The male next to her donned a smirk on his face as he continued casting his shadow jutsu spell that was holding her down. He did this every time he was told to get up, because he would be too lazy to move.

"No!" He protested playfully.

"C'mon, it's 5:20 already. We need to get up and get dressed before auntie comes up." The truth was, it had just occurred to her that they were still naked from their little "session" earlier, and without fail, Shikamaru's mother would always be at the door at 5:30 on the dot to call the two down for dinner if they were not in the dining room already.

"What a drag." This seemed to get Shikamaru slowly up and stretching. His parents still did not know about this aspect of their relationship, though they probably had their suspicions. Instead, they often just opted to never disturb the two's afternoon naps, especially when they knew their son had just returned from a mission.

They got dressed quickly and washed up a bit before heading down the stairs.

"Oh! I was just coming to get you." Shikamaru's mother said as they arrived.

Shikamaru took a seat in his usual spot while Naome helped her auntie set up the table. Shikaku glanced almost knowingly at his son, and smirked when he saw some marks along his neck. "Gone for a whole week, and came back with a couple of bug bites huh." He remarked, just loud enough for his son to hear.

Shikamaru tried desperately to not be phased by the words coming from his father's mouth, but a light tint of pink began creeping onto his cheeks. "Yeah."

Shikaku chucked. "Gotta be careful out there."

Luckily for Shikamaru, he was saved when his mother and Naome sat at the table, and they all began to eat.

"How was your mission Shikamaru?" His mother asked him during the meal.

"It was a drag." Shikamaru replied in his usual nonchalant tone.

Shikaku sighed. "You know son, you need to start taking these missions seriously. Eventually you are going to be sent on more difficult missions, or you will have to be in charge of a squad. Not to mention, when are you intending to become a jonin?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "It will happen when it happens."

Naome couldn't help but giggle at how defeated his parents looked when they noticed their son couldn't care less about the conversation. It wasn't that he didn't care, rather, he was always pretty serious when it came to the mission at hand. He was always heavily devoted to protecting his comrades, and he always had great dreams about what he wanted the village to look like in the future. Sometimes, it was just hard for him to express that.

The family finished up the meal with some more light conversations, and Naome decided to help the family clean up. Afterwards, the two of them went up to the rooftop, a tradition for them, and laid underneath the sky, watching the final bit of the sunset, and the clouds that were passing by.

"When are you going on a mission again?" Naome asked, breaking the comfortable silence between them.

"I'm not sure. Lady Tsunade mentioned something about signing some documents and acting as a liaison between us and the sand. I'll probably be heading there in a few days." He turned around to face her. "Wanna come with me?"

She shook her head. "She told me something earlier about being assigned to a squad in a week or two."

"A new squad?" Finally, something piqued his interest. "Did she say who will be on your team? And for what mission?"

"I'm not sure. She said we have to wait for someone to return first before she can introduce us." Naome couldn't help but have an excited but uneasy feeling in her chest. "It's weird," she said. "I'm finally going to be placed on an official team."

Prior to this for the past year and a half, Naome had only been sent on missions with temporary team members. She was merely filling in wherever the hokage deemed necessary, usually when someone was unavailable to be part of a mission. It seemed like for the past few weeks, Tsunade had been purposely keeping her off missions, expecting that someone to return soon.

"Meh, you'll do fine." Shikamaru said, as he returned to looking at the sky above them. "But I guess that means you and I won't be on the same squad for a while huh? We might not be able to see each other too often then."

"Guess you better appreciate my company now then!" Naome cheered, breaking the solemn tension between them. She reached over and pulled Shikamaru into a death grip bear hug. "You'll be stuck with me until you leave for your next mission."

He groaned. "Women…so troublesome" Unbeknownst to Naome, Shikamaru was actually wearing a playful smile on his face the entire time.