"Wow your fridge looks sad"

She closed the empty fridge slowly and looked at him with a deadpan expression. It's her first day living with her fake husband, she roamed his apartment and saw the empty food shelves, dirty clothes filed up, and a messy kitchen. This kid needs a mother.

"Yeah, I know. I haven't had the time to get some groceries or go to the laundry shop this week"

"Gahd! Do you even know how to cook?"

"I'm still trying to learn"

"Yeah, I figured. You didn't even put the salt and pepper in a container" She lift the small bag of salt with tape on the cut portion. "Hmm"

"We'll just grab some food outside"

"Ah, na-ah! I'll do the grocery and I'll teach you how to cook you lazy ass! I don't want to starve in your apartment"

"Alright, then I'll come with you" He offered while grabbing his coat.

"No, you'll clean this room. I need it to be squeaky clean from every corner once I return. Okay? And put your dirty clothes in a bag" she grabbed her bag and coat.

"Woman! How will you pay for the groceries then?"

"I'll pay for it, you still owe me 30% so I'll just add it in there" She knows he doesn't have enough money to buy groceries, especially for both of them. She's just returning the favor to him; he helped her pay the debt from the Suna gang so might as well serve him a little. Well, she still didn't receive the payment but eventually. He has no idea about it and she did not want to discuss it either. She's not very vocal about her feelings so this kind of gesture might speak for her gratitude.

"I don't think a woman should be paying for a man's need"

"Oh shut up Nara! I need to go"

He exhales heavily and looks around the room, thinking about where he should start cleaning. He saw her walking outside the door, troublesome.

Since he graduated from college, it's very hard for him to find motivation. The world shocked him, his views about it are different, different from the ones he is seeing right now. When he was in college, he expects that when you put good grades and good performance it'll be easy for him to live his dreams, and companies will hire him and give him good pay. Easy, but not until he found himself struggling in reality. He always wish that his parents were here with him, maybe….. just maybe, it'll be easier for him to live.

He started cleaning the living room, the kitchen, and organizing his wardrobe. Wow, it's been a year since I cleaned my wardrobe huh? Then he proceeds to clean the bathroom and saw her stuff in the sink. The idea of him being married to someone is starting to sync in. Her stuff dominates the bathroom, there were a lot of bottles arranged which almost cover the entire sink table. He looked at it and started to observe, a shampoo? then shampoo with conditioner? body wash? Then there's body scrub? What's hair mask? He shifts his gaze to his part of the sink, the gloomy side of the sink which composed of only of shampoo, soap, and toothbrush. Wow, girls are really paying for these.

He did all the cleaning, just like what she requested, squeaky clean in every corner of the room. It's been 2 hours since he started cleaning then he slips away and started sleeping on the couch.

He woke up and heard a sizzling sound in the kitchen. It's already 5:30 pm, damn I slept for 3 hours.

"Finally! You woke up sleepy head. I was about to teach you how to cook and you slept"

"Hah? Hmm, sorry" He looked at her while focusing his eyes, he got tired from all the cleaning.

"Actually, it's okay. You did a great job! Your apartment now becomes more bearable to live"

"Uh-huh, right. Thanks!" He cocked his eyebrow at her. He started to walk to the kitchen and look at what she's cooking, the aroma of the food makes him hungrier. "And what are you making?"

"Katsudon and miso soup" she smiled at him.

He saw her smile again. He felt weird, he can't explain but he felt nervously weird.

"Hmm, smells good. It looks…..good" It's really good…looks really good.

"Well, I've been cooking for my brothers so this is my expertise"

"You have brothers?"

"Yeah, two. Kankuro and Gaara, they're my heart and soul"

"Where are they now?"

"They're…..in Suna" She pulled her lips in and her eyes becomes sad. She then changes the subject "Can you get the rice for me? So, we could eat"

He saw it, he felt it, the energy from her. She must have been longing for her brothers, for her family.

They started eating and he was so pleased with her cook. It's his first time eating real food (someone cooked for him) since his parents died.

"So, how was it?" she asked

"It's good. Okay, now you're making me convinced to start learning how to cook"

"You should! You're living independently and you don't have anyone with you but yourself"

"I know, it's just…. it's too much of a drag"

She rolled her eyes while munching the katsudon "Urgh! Just stop being so lazy and your problem will be solved"

"I did that, I just don't have the motivation sometimes"

"You don't have to be motivated to do something. You need discipline, discipline will produce more results you know. Motivation is just temporary, if you don't have the motivation to cook for example, would you quit cooking? No, you need the disciple to continue cooking"

He looked at her, observing. She's right. Looking for motivation is just his excuse to not get things done.

"That's actually true"

"And I thought you're the genius here"

"I'm genius by the book, but you.. you're street smart"

"You think?"

"I observed"

They prepare themselves to sleep, it's their first time sleeping together. He positioned himself on the edge of the bed, there's a gap in the middle, just to make sure he doesn't touch the rope. He's almost falling to the side of the bed but he's respecting her space more.

"Shikamaru, are you sure you're comfortable in that position? I mean, there's a whole lot of space in the middle. I'm starting to think you're disgusted with me?"

"Just sleep, woman"

After an hour, he found himself uncomfortable in his position. His back starting to ache, his sides too. He rolled to the other side to lessen the pain. He saw her sleeping, the skyglow illuminates her from their window. She's sleeping peacefully. He can't keep his eyes off of her, her skin glows at night, and her sandy blonde hair flows in his pillow like a river in a sleeping mountain.

I like this view.