Chapter 1

Footsteps enter the room, and the bed shifts slightly as he sits on the edge of the bed, jarring her from her daze. She is still recovering from the high she just felt, from the experience they had just shared together. He places a glass of water on the side table, and as she sits up to take a sip, he waits anxiously. Eventually she gets up quietly, taking his silence as a queue and begins to get dressed, knowing fully well what the expectations were. Nothing. This all means nothing.

She barely finishes dressing herself when a quiet voice breaks the silence.

"We can't keep doing this." he says, as he holds his face in his hands. "Naome, this needs to stop."

She almost chuckled at his words. "That's what you say but everytime-"

"No. This is the last time." He pauses, and she can feel her heart starting to shatter again. "This is the end."

His voice was different this time. She gathers her belongings solemnly and almost races to get out of the room. When she gets out the front door, she pauses for a brief moment, hoping he would change his mind, or say anything that would mean there's a chance. This time, it's over for good. She rips the door open and runs out of the apartment with tears already starting to stream down her face.

She pauses in the middle of the village. It's late, most of the stores are closed, and there is no where to go anymore. There's no one that knows, no one who would understand, no one but him.

1 Year Earlier

"Naome-chan! It's time for breakfast!" The familiar voice yelled from the lower level of the house. Naome quickly finished clipping on her tool pouch onto her thigh and swung her sword over her shoulder as she ran out of her bedroom door. She donned a wide smile on her face as she practically slid into her seat at the dining table.

"Good morning auntie! Good morning uncle!" She greeted, just as Yoshino Nara set the plate of food down in front of her. "Thank you for the food!"

Naome began immediately stuffing the breakfast into her mouth as her "aunt" and "uncle" watched on with a small grin on their face. They knew both knew why she was in a rush today.

"If you don't hurry up, you'll miss him." Shikaku teased with a slight smirk on his face. "He should be back any time now."

Scared she would be late, Naome grabbed the last piece of toast from her plate and left it hanging from her mouth as she quickly ran to put her dishes away in the sink.

"Don't worry about it dear," Yoshino said, "Shikaku will clean things up, you can head out, I know you're excited to see him." Naome giggled as she watched her uncle freeze up at the sound of his name and chores. Regardless, he would never say no to his wife. Afterall, women are scary (like father, like son.)

Bidding a quick goodbye, Naome ran out the door. The Nara clan lived on the outer ring of the village because they had to attend to the deer in the area. Therefore, in order for Naome to make it to the front game in time, she had cut through the village rather than running along the round boundaries of the enormous village. Luckily, when she got there, there were still no returning citizens to be found.

"Good morning Kotetsu-san, Izumo-san!" Naome called out to the two gatekeepers.

"Good morning Naome-chan!" They waved, with bright smiles on their faces. Naome had grown close to the two guards despite the fact that they were older than her. Afterall, they were there two years ago when she was brought back to the village.

Naome sat on the bench next to the registration booth, and looked up at the clouds, reminiscing. It's been two years already huh?

-2 years prior-

Two years ago, she had woken up to the sound of an unfamiliar voice calling for her attention. "Hey! Are you alright? Wake up!"

"Do you think she's hurt? Why would a random girl like her be out in the middle of nowhere?" A second voice chimed in.

Slowly, she willed herself to open her eyes. She squinted at first, adjusting to the sunlight that was breaking through the trees above her. Then slowly, she felt her range of motion return to her as she turned her head slightly in the direction of the voice. She tried to speak, but she barely had her voice crack through. The slight murmur was enough to get the ninja's attention though.

A guy with his dark hair tied back turned to look down at her. "Hey."

"Hi," she managed to finally whisper out. Her body was aching a bit but she regained enough strength to sit up, wincing at the pain in her legs.

"Woah, woah! Don't move. You don't know if you are seriously injured." A new, female voice spoke up. It was the first time that you realized there were more people around. A girl with long blonde hair, and a brown haired fellow that looked so worried that he might faint. Naome returned her gaze to the original male that was crouched closest to her.

"What happened?" She asked. Her body felt like she had been run over by a boulder. Everywhere ached, but mainly, she knew she couldn't stand. Looking around, she saw a few kunais and shuriken laying around, and her sword not far off. It then occurred to her that she had been in a fight. It all came back to her then. She was walking through the woods, travelling aimlessly as she always did, when a few ninja bandits came and attacked her. She managed to fend them off, though not by much. She had fainted in the clearing soon after.

"Are you a shinobi?" The chubbier, brown haired one asked. "What village do you belong to?"

It was then that Naome noticed the headbands the ninja were donning. Leaf shinobi. She almost let out a sigh of relief, though her guard was still up.

"I...kind of? And...I don't…"

"What do you mean?" The girl with the blonde remarked. "How is that possible?"

"Well….it's hard to explain…."

"What's your name?" The male closest to Naome asked.

"Naome…" They seemed to wait for her to continue her answer, but that's just it. She did not have a family name, nor did she have a village she belonged to.

"Can you walk?" The guy asked. Naome tried to move her legs but winced in pain when she put pressure on it. She shook her head. The guy sighed, and crouched, turning his back to her almost unwillingly. He looked at her, and motioned to his back. "C'mon, let's go."

Everyone else was taken aback, including Naome herself. Why was this random stranger offering to help her out in the woods when she didn't even offer her full name, or any other information about her? In fact, how could she trust them? She knew that shinobi from the leaf village were generally good people, which is why she was headed there in the first place, however, she also knew every land there could be good or bad individuals. For some reason though, he felt comfortable.

She slowly leaned her torso onto his back and allowed her arms to dangle over the front of his shoulders. He stood up, hooking his arms around her knees, and adjusted for her weight. "Ino, grab her sword." The blonde snapped out of her shock and quickly grabbed the sword from the ground. "Let's go." The male declared, as he began walking off. The other two followed closely behind.

Naome could feel herself drifting into sleep, a few minutes into the journey to who knows where, but for some odd reason, she trusted him. Just as her eyes closed, she heard the tail end of their conversation.

"Shikamaru, are you sure about this?" The other male asked. "Maybe we should ask Asuma-sensai first."

"Asuma is waiting for us at the gate." The one carrying her said. "Besides, we can't just leave her like this."

Shikamaru, so that was his name. Naome thought, a small grin forming as she relaxed into his warmth. Thank you.

-Present -

Ever since that day, the hidden leaf village had become her home. Naome had moved into the Nara residence under the suggestion of the 5th hokage because she was still recovering and needed someone to assist her in walking. She became close with Yoshino and Shikaku Nara, enough that they began loving her as a daughter (and even daughter-in-law, as they would sometimes joke), and invited her to stay permanently in their household. Two months after receiving treatment and rehabilitating, Naome had fully recovered and participated in an evaluation where she was placed as a chuunin level shinobi in the leaf's ninja system.

This time though, it wasn't her turn to go on a mission. She was here to pick him up.

"Oh, looks like they're here!" Kotetsu said, as he waved to the figures that were appearing from a distance.

Naome looked up, almost unable to contain her excitement. When the figures were about 10 metres away, she ran the rest of the distance, and straight into Shikamaru's arms. He stumbled backwards slightly at her speed but easily regained his balance.

"Welcome home!" She said as they parted.

"Mm." Naome knew Shikamaru was a man of few words, especially around his colleagues, but he also smiled at her, and that was a rare but encouraging sight to see.

"Ew you two. We just got back!" Ino groaned as she watched the two of them walking back, hand in hand. Naome and Shikamaru both chuckled, knowing that Ino didn't really mind their interactions, but rather liked teasing them. In fact, most of the friends their age already knew about their relationship. Or at least they assumed they did.

The truth was, there were no words to describe Naome and Shikamaru's relationship. They had never put a label on anything. They were friends, siblings, ...lovers? The Nara family had joked many times about the two of them getting married. Would that make them fiances? There was never pressure between the two of them to put a label on what they had. They just kind of mutually understood the feelings that they had for each other.

The team 10 squad, along with Naome, waved goodbye to Kotetsu and Izumo as they walked into the village.

"What are your plans for today?" Naome asked the team, as they were walking through the streets.

"I'm going to go hand in the mission report to lady Hokage." Asuma said. He quickly bid farewell to his team, and ruffled Naome's hair lightly before dashing off in the direction of the office.

"Anybody want food?" Choji asked, grinning at the thought of freshly barbequed meat. After a week away from the village, only freshly grilled meat sounded like a good option to him.

"No way, I'm going to go take a nice bath first." Ino said. "I feel so gross from walking through the woods all these days."

Shikamaru yawned next to Naome, already tugging her hand in the direction of his house. "Sorry Choji, next time. I just want to go to sleep in a nice comfy bed right now."

The team split for the rest of the day, with Shikamaru and Naome walking off to the Nara residence. By the time they were home, Shikaku was already at work. As they were walking in, Mrs. Nara was just walking out. She hugged her son, and let them know that she was going to go into town to run some errands and buy groceries for a welcome home meal.

Shikamaru groaned, "mom, you didn't have to make it such a big deal. I go for missions all the time."

His mother chuckled. "I know, but you deserve something nice to eat to regain your energy again. Anyways, I'm off!"

When they went inside, Shikamaru went upstairs to take a quick shower, and Naome grabbed him a glass of water and some snacks before bringing it upstairs to his room. She set the food on the bed side table and laid on his bed, waiting for the sound of the water to shut off. When he came out, he chugged the glass of water before laying down on the bed next to her. He threw an arm around her and moved in to cuddle, smelling the familiar scent of her, that now reminded him of home. He closed his eyes, finally relaxing again.

"How was your mission?" Naome asked, idly playing with his hair that was now let down.

"It was-"

"A drag?" She finished. She couldn't help but giggle. "When is it ever not a drag?"

Shikamaru peaked an eye open to look at the grinning girl in front of him. He leaned in, pressing their foreheads lightly against each other before leaning in so that their lips were barely brushing against each other. "When you're there."

Before she could even respond, he closed the distance, pressing his lips firmly against hers. He sucked on her lower lip as she fully wound her fingers in his hair, pulling their bodies closer together. Shikamaru started to make a move, but she stopped him, deciding to roll her body on top of his instead. Afterall, she knew how much of a lazy bum he liked to be, and decided that she wanted to spoil him instead.

After she broke the kiss, she dragged her lips along his jawline and onto the side of his neck. At the same time, she rolled her hips against his now growing bulge, earning her a frustrated moan from the male under her.

"Naome please." He called out. He had been away for what seemed like the longest time and his desires were making him dizzy.

Following his plead, Naome began stripping him of his attire, finally freeing the growing member that was now waiting for attention. She stared at the sight, and grasped it in her hand before leaning in to kiss him sweetly on the lips. "You know, it's just me and you home." She reminded him, followed by a flick of the wrist.

Shikamaru moaned, and tried once again to flip their positions but Naome held him down. He gave in, letting her have her way with him until he passed out from a mixture of exhaustion and euphoria from reaching his climax.