I got another story for you all. I did this story for the Asuma week 2022, but didn't actually publish it... I fail :( But I have decided to finally put it up because I love Asuma and he doesn't get enough love... in my opinion. This is a AsuShika story as well, so if you guys don't care for male/male relationships, then I would suggest you don't read. They don't do anything besides kiss, so there's that, but I am making them gay.

Disclaimer: I own none of Naruto or Asuma wouldn't have died.

Trapped Together

Asuma stood there completely shocked. The boy in front of him, his student for the past five years, had really dropped a bomb on him. "Wh-What did you say?"

"I said I love you," Shikamaru repeated, a blush covering his face. He glanced down and toed the dirt.

Asuma still couldn't wrap his head around the words. His student, his male student, just confessed to him. To him, his sensei… Well, ex-sensei since the boy was now a chunin, but still. "I…" He wasn't sure what to say.

Shikamaru looked up at him, hurt in his eyes. "Look," he started, forcing his face to become blank. "I just wanted to let you know. If you don't feel the same, it's no big deal."

Asuma felt bad when the boy turned his head, probably to hide the tears that he briefly saw started welling up in the boy's eyes. "I… It's a bit sudden… How long…?"

"About two years now," the boy replied.

'Two years?' Asuma's eyes went wide, but quickly looked away from the boy, his hand running through his hair nervously. "I'm sorry, Shikamaru. I…"

"Look, I said it was fine," Shikamaru said and walked away. "I'll see you later, Sensei."

Asuma watched the boy disappear into the treeline. He couldn't move, couldn't speak. He knew he should go after the boy and talk this out, but he really didn't know what to say. Shikamaru was always his favorite student, he'd admit that, but love? The kid was like a son to him… At least, that's what he always thought.

He looked down and furrowed his brow. Did he have feelings for the boy other than just a student/teacher relationship? Could he possibly love him more than just a son figure? His relationship with Kurenai had fizzled out about a year ago, but he never really wanted to find anyone else yet.

Or did he?

He looked back in the direction Shikamaru disappeared. To quote his favorite student's favorite phrase, "What a drag."

NNNNNNNNNNN

Three weeks had passed, and Shikamaru seemed to be avoiding him. He didn't really blame the boy after he pretty much rejected the boy's advances, but he had hoped that they could still be friends. Maybe it was too much for the kid.

He walked down the hall in the Hokage's tower, knocked on the Hokage's office door, and entered when he got the ok. "You wanted to see me, Lady…" He froze when he saw Shikamaru standing in front of the village leader's desk. He saw the boy stiffen for a moment, eyes wide, before he quickly pushed it away and had that bored look on his face again.

"Good, now that you're both here, I have a mission for the two of you," Tsunade said, completely missing the slight uncomfortableness the two shared.

Asuma walked up to stand next to Shikamaru, and felt a little hurt that the boy moved away very subtly. "What's the mission?"

Tsunade stood up and handed a scroll to Asuma. "This scroll contains very important information that needs to get to the Land of Rice as soon as possible. There will be rogue shinobi after this information, so be on your guard."

"If it's that big of a threat level, why only the two of us?" Shikamaru asked.

Asuma wondered if the boy really meant it the way it sounded, or if he didn't want to be alone with him. He figured it was the former.

"I don't want to advertise that you guys are carrying this information by sending a large squad, but I don't want only one person to go up against any threats they may come across on their own," Tsunade said.

"Understood," Shikamaru said.

"Ok, I need you to move out immediately," Tsunade said as she sat back down. "Be careful."

The two men nodded, then headed out.

It was several hours into their journey to the Land of Rice, and not one of them had uttered a word to the other. The silence was really starting to get to Asuma, and he really wondered if he had ruined things permanently between the two. He opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again and looked away from the boy.

As he stared forward, his mind went back to the past three weeks. Ever since Shikamaru's confession, he had been plagued with thoughts of the boy. The littlest things reminded him of the boy next to him, the shogi board that waited for a new game by his couch, the clouds that he glanced at whenever he heard a bird chirp in the sky, even the pineapples he saw in some of the street vendor's stalls.

He sighed and closed his eyes. He could handle the boy plaguing his thoughts when something reminded him of the boy, but it was the dreams at night that was the real problem. They started off normal, just the two of them hanging out and playing shogi, figuring that he missed playing against the boy, but over time, they got more… heated. First kissing dreams, then touching, and finally full on sex. The past week alone he had woken up in a cold sweat, a hard on straining in his pants, and he would have to jerk off just to relieve himself.

He opened his eyes and glanced at the boy again, who was now looking at him concerned.

"You ok?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah," he replied shortly. He cursed himself when he saw the hurt look cross the boy's face. He sighed. "I've just got some things I'm thinking about."

"That can be dangerous for you," Shikamaru said with a sly smirk.

Asuma chuckled, really happy the boy was joking around with him again. "Cheeky brat," he said as he returned the smile.

The silence returned, but this time it wasn't as suffocating. He still wanted to talk to the boy about this, but figured it would probably be better to wait until after this mission, when they didn't need to be on high alert for enemy shinobi.

They traveled a few more miles before what they feared happened. They had to jump back to avoid several kunai and shuriken, and landed on the ground next to each other, Asuma with his chakra blades out, and Shikamaru with a single kunai. They waited for the enemy to jump down in front of them, but then something suddenly wrapped around their legs and wrists.

Asuma looked down to see what looked like mud wrapped around his ankles and wrists, and when he looked over, he saw Shikamaru struggling against the same thing.

"I feel insulted."

Asuma turned his attention to the man that finally dropped down from the trees. He was dressed in a light gray, standard shinobi outfit, and his slashed Hidden Rain headband proudly displayed on his forehead. "Who are you?"

The man frowned. "You know exactly who I am," the man said as he walked up to Asuma and searched through the man's vest pockets.

Asuma tried to bat the guy's hands away, but the mud on his wrists kept him in place. He watched with a glare as the man finally found the scroll they were supposed to deliver to the Land of Rice.

"Ah, there it is," the man said with a smile as he opened the scroll and scanned its contents. He placed the scroll in his weapons pouch and smiled at the duo. "Sorry, but your mission is a failure."

"You won't get away with this," Asuma all but growled at the man.

The man laughed. "And who's going to stop me? You?"

"Jutsus don't last forever," Shikamaru said. "Once this jutsu runs out, we'll come after you."

The man turned to the boy and stepped closer to him. Asuma did not like the look the guy was giving his partner. "Get away from him!"

The man turned his head towards Asuma and smiled as he reached up with both hands and placed them on the boy's throat. Shikamaru's eyes went wide as he gasped for air.

"Stop it! You have what you want, so let him go!" Asuma said, panic rising in his chest, his eyes locking with the man. He glared at the man, fire in his eyes.

The man laughed again and squeezed tighter, making the boy squeeze his eyes shut from the pain and lack of oxygen.

"Stop!" Asuma yelled again. "If you want to kill someone, then kill me!"

The man finally let Shikamaru go, and Asuma let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding as Shikamaru coughed and quickly pulled air back into his lungs. The man pulled a kunai out of his weapon's pouch and held it up to Asuma's throat. "Don't think I won't take you up on that."

Asuma gave him a stone cold look, glaring at the man with every fiber of his being. "Go ahead, just leave the kid alone." He saw out of the corner of his eye that Shikamaru gave him a glare at the word 'kid' and inwardly chuckled. He closed his eyes when he felt the blade push into his neck, a warm liquid trickling down his throat.

Asuma was surprised when the man lowered the blade and he opened his eyes. The man was smiling at him as he placed the kunai back in his pouch. "The kid's right. My jutsu won't hold you for much longer, however, there is a jutsu that will stay permanently." He stepped back and weaved a few hand signs before slamming his hand on the ground. "Earth style: Domed Earth Prison."

The ground around them rose up and covered them completely, leaving them in a domed prison just like the name implied. Asuma heard the man's laughter slowly recede and then silence.

"Dang it," Shikamaru cursed.

It was only a few more minutes before the mud on their wrists and ankles fell away. Asuma poured chakra into the blades he still had in his hands and slashed at the walls, but nothing happened. "What the?" He tried again, but the same results.

Shikamaru cracked a glow stick and raised it up to the wall. "He must have reinforced the walls with chakra, either that or he placed a seal on the dome," Shikamaru said as he touched the wall where Asuma had tried slicing.

Asuma reluctantly put his blades away. "So what now?"

Shikamaru turned back to the man then slid down the wall to sit, tossing the glow stick to the side. "Nothing we can do unless someone can break the jutsu or the seal."

Asuma stared at the boy for a second before he sighed and sat down next to him. He was right, there really was nothing they could do if they couldn't even slice their way out with his wind enhanced blades that could easily cut through a boulder.

Silence once again surrounded them as they both sat there in their own thoughts.

"Don't ever do that again," Shikamaru suddenly said.

Asuma raised his eyebrow as he looked at the boy. "Huh?"

Shikamaru turned to Asuma with a glare. "Don't ever try to get someone to kill you just to save me," he said, anger laced in his voice.

Asuma frowned. "I will do anything I have to to make sure you don't die, Shikamaru."

"You don't have to protect me!"

Asuma chuckled and leaned his head back on the wall. "Sorry, but I will always protect you. I won't let anyone hurt you."

"Then don't go dying on me."

Asuma looked up at him confused. "Huh?"

Shikamaru looked away. "If you died, that would hurt more than anything else," he said in a quieter voice.

Asuma's eyes widened at the realization of what the boy meant. He menatally slapped himself. 'Of course it would. He loves me.' He felt so stupid. "Shikamaru…"

Shikamaru pulled his knees into his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "I know you don't think of me like that, but I can't lose you, Asuma."

"Funny, coming from the boy who's been avoiding me for the past three weeks," Asuma said as he crossed his arms.

Shikamaru turned his head away from the man and laid it on his knees. "I wish I had never told you how I felt."

Asuma looked at the boy sadly. He reached over and almost put his hand on the boy's back, but quickly pulled it away and looked away. He had to make a decision, here and now. He clenched his fist in his lap then looked back at the boy with determination. 'Only one way to confirm this.'

He reached over and pulled the boy closer, causing the boy to uncurl himself and stare at the man shocked, before he smashed their lips together. He felt the boy freeze for a moment, but then melt into the kiss. The electricity he felt when the boy started kissing him back was unlike anything he had felt before.

Shikamaru wrapped his arms around Asuma's neck and pulled himself closer to the man as he tried to get Asuma to deepen the kiss. He ran his tongue over Asuma's bottom lip, begging for entrance.

Asuma hesitated when he felt the wet muscle on his lip, but opened his mouth and took in a sharp breath at the feel of the boy's tongue enter his wet canvas and wrestle with his own tongue.

They stayed like that for a few minutes before they had to break off for air, both panting heavily. "Asuma," the boy breathed out.

Asuma wrapped his arms tighter around the boy. "I'm sorry, Shika. You threw me for a loop when you confessed to me, and at first I wasn't sure how to take it."

"But?" the boy asked, hope in his eyes.

Asuma smiled. "But I think I just figured it out."

Shikamaru smiled back at the older man and leaned in to recapture his lips. He moved his hands into Asuma's hair and buried his hands in the thick locks.

Asuma ran his hands up and down Shikamaru's back, wishing that dang vest wasn't in the way, but when he felt the boy start to grind into him with his hardness, he broke off the kiss and pushed the boy back.

"What?" Shikamaru asked, a bit disappointed.

"It's not you," Asuma said as he raised his hand to rub the back of his head, his fingers brushing against the smaller ones in his hair. "I… I've never done this with a guy before. Let's take it slow, ok?"

Shikamaru groaned and dropped his head to rest on Asuma's shoulder. "I've waited two years for this."

Asuma chuckled. "Then you should be able to wait a little longer… At least until we get back to the village."

Shikamaru looked back at him again, lust and hope shining in the dark orbs. "Promise?"

Asuma leaned forward and pecked him on the lips. "Promise."

Shikamaru nodded, waited for a second, then smashed their lips together again.

Asuma smiled into the kiss. He'd give the boy this. He owed the boy after all for making him hurt for three weeks.

After a very heavy make out session, that even Asuma had a hard time keeping to just kissing, the two passed the time by catching up and just talking about random things. They ate the few rations that they packed for the mission, and tried to figure out another way to get out of their prison, but after two days, they started to worry that they would be stuck there until they died.

On the third day, during another heavy make out session, a light finally broke through the top of the dome. They both blinked at the sudden brightness that filled the small area, but looked up to see a shadowy figure looking down at them.

"I found them!"

"Naruto," Shikamaru said as he and Asuma stood up.

Naruto's face disappeared from the hole and after another few seconds, the walls of their prison crumbled away to reveal Kakashi, Naruto, Ino, Choji, and Sakura.

"Shikamaru! Asuma Sensei!" Ino yelled as she ran forward and pulled both of them into a hug.

Asuma laughed. "It's good to see you too, Ino," he said as he and Shikamaru placed a hand on the girl's back.

Ino finally stepped away. "Are you two ok?" she asked.

"Yeah. A bit hungry, but we're fine," Shikamaru said.

Choji pulled two bags of chips from his bag and handed them over. "Here."

"You sure?" Asuma asked as he and Shikamaru took the offered bags.

Shikamaru didn't even wait for the boy's answer and opened the small bag and stuffed the chips in his mouth.

"Yeah," Choji said with a smile.

Kakashi held out a canteen. "I'm sure you guys didn't have anything to drink either."

Asuma took the canteen. "We did for a day, but ran out. We didn't have a chance to fill it up before we were captured." He twisted the lid off and sighed as the cool water passed over his dry tongue. He then handed the canteen to Shikamaru and opened his own bag of chips to eat.

"We managed to find the man that stole the scroll from you guys and took it to the village in the Land of Rice," Kakashi said. "Lady Tsunade changed her mind about wanting more people on this and sent us and the rest of Team Asuma to back you up."

"We ran into the guy on the way here and he boasted about how pathetic you two were for falling for his trap so easily," Sakura said. She noticed the bruises on Shikamaru's neck and walked up to him, her hand already glowing the faint green of her medical jutsu.

Shikamaru flinched when Sakura reached up to his throat, but relaxed when he felt the calming chakra. "It doesn't hurt any more."

"Just making sure," the pinkette replied. It only took a few more seconds for her to back away.

"You said you already delivered the scroll?" Asuma said as he turned from Shikamaru to Kakashi.

"Yeah," the masked shinobi said. "Naruto sent one of his clones on ahead while we looked for you two."

"What did you do to the guy?" Shikamaru asked.

"My clone took him to the village and handed him over to the authorities there," Naruto replied.

Asuma and Shikamaru just nodded.

"Well, shall we head home then?" Kakashi asked.

Everyone nodded and jumped into the trees, Asuma and Shikamaru staying close together.

How did you like it? I hope it wasn't too cringe or anything. Let me know in a review.