:::::Mendou na Koi :: Troublesome Love:::::
By: Violettachan
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and its related characters.
Summary: Shikamaru finds that love just won't leave him alone, no matter how troublesome.
Italicized words are Shikamaru's thoughts.
Well, enjoy and let me know what you think.
:::::Mendou na Koi :: Troublesome Love:::::
Ch.2 Onna wa Kimagure :: Girls are Fickle
Ha- How bothersome, a special mission request from the Hokage. This is going to suck...why can't I have the weekend off? I'm sure there are tons of others who would love to do extra tasks and schmooze to her. Damn Asuma for letting her know of my "special" abilities. Hopefully this isn't the start of some trend; I'd hate for her to start giving me every task that even remotely needs a brain. That would be the end of lazy afternoons for me. The scowling boy slouched along slowly. I hope there's going to be other people there, so I can just take a nap while they happily do "important" work for the Hokage. Shikamaru felt that his luck was surprisingly holding up for the day when he spotted pink hair in the waiting room. Yes! Haruno, the Teacher's Pet, would LOVE to have a chance to show off! Please, please, please let her be assigned to the same task!
"Yo-. Hisashiburi."
"Ohayo-! Are you here for the Satou Mission too?"
"Satou? Um..who?"
"Oh, I guess you aren't then."
Shikamaru merely shrugged. Nah, there's little possibility that both of us would be summoned to this waiting room at the same time if we weren't on the same mission. Haruno has always been hard-working; I bet she'd do all the work without even noticing.
After a few moments of silence, a jounin came into the waiting area and glanced at the two teens.
"You're both here. I'll brief you in this room. Follow me."
As the two obediently followed him, Sakura shot Shikamaru an annoyed glare. Huh, why is Haruno looking at me like that? I could have sworn she had looked excited just a second ago. Oh well, whatever.
Shikamaru and Sakura listened as the jounin explained the mission.
"The strategist in charge of the Satou Mission has unexpectedly become sick with the flu. As you know, the time sensitive nature of this mission demands an immediate replacement. All other strategists are extremely busy, so you two have been chosen to come up with several alternative plans. We are hoping that you will be able to come up with at least one plan that will be sufficient to form the basis of this mission."
He paused to give the two an evaluating look. Sakura tried too hard to look capable and trustworthy, while Shikamaru yawned. The jounin looked at the two dubiously, but merely nodded as he disappeared in a poof of smoke. As soon as he was gone, Sakura whirled around to face Shikamaru.
"How can you be on this mission without knowing who Satou is??"
"Oh. I'm bad with names."
"Ugh. Fine. Whatever. Just tell me that you know the background information for the mission."
"I do."
"Are you sure??"
"Yeah. There's a bad guy with a fortified base that is seemingly impossible to infiltrate. But one of his trusted henchmen is one of our shinobi. It's really not going to be that difficult with so much insider information. Plus, did you see the blueprints for the building? The west wing of the second floor is such a weak point. Whatever idiot thought that the building was difficult to infiltrate is a complete moron."
Sakura was quiet for a moment or two before she burst out into a smile.
"That would be perfect!! But we'll have to think of other entry points too. If the guard duty schedule changes, the west wing will definitely be out."
Shikamaru was confused. Had this been Ino, he would have been beaten as soon as the jounin had left the room on principle. Then, after explaining himself, he would have been pounded again for pissing her off in the first place by "withholding" information from her. Well, I guess this isn't so bad. Haruno's tolerable for being one of the Uchiha fangirls. Shikamaru smirked at the thought that not all Uchiha fangirls were complete fools. Too bad he didn't hide the smirk well enough to escape detection.
"What?"
Shit, I didn't know she was the observant-type. Thought anyone who didn't notice Uchiha hated all his fangirls was dense. I can't tell her what I was actually thinking. If she doesn't outright kill me for the thought, she'd slowly torture me with obsessive Uchiha ravings.
"Uh. Nothing. Let's go to the strategy room. I think more information is there."
Sakura's features contorted from curiosity to humiliation to anger in the blink of an eye.
"You can stop looking so smug! You're not the only one who can come up with plans, you know!"
Oh great! Now she thinks that I was trying to be condescending; probably insecure from that jounin who obviously thought we were a couple of losers. Ha-- glares, smiles, and back to glares. How can she go through so many emotions in such a short period? I'm getting tired just watching her.
"Ha-, you've misunderstood. Look, I know you're smart and you know I'm smart. We both are more than capable of this mission regardless of what that jounin thought. I don't doubt your abilities."
"Fine. But you better not think that I'm going to let you take all the credit for this mission just because you came up with some general idea! Sure, it's clever but there's a lot of details that have to be ironed out."
"Whatever."
Shikamaru walked off towards the strategy room without bothering to see if Sakura was following. Ugh, that girl is so tiresome even if she isn't as loud as Ino. In fact, she's worse because I can't predict her actions. God, this is going to be such a long day.
To Be Continued
About how Shikamaru and Sakura address each other in their thoughts...I decided to have Shikamaru use her last name, since he seems kind of distant with people. Whereas, Sakura seemed the type to use his first name (not because they are close, but because she thinks he's not worth being formal to...especially since it's not out loud). Correct me if I am wrong, and I will go back and make changes.
-Review Replies-
To Esther:
Don't worry, I'm just as against OCs as you seem. I feel it's almost cheating. At the point that I would use an OC, I'd rather just write a completely original fiction. (Though I have seen OCs being used well by others.) I like working within the limitations of the original work. However, I don't find it necessary to follow every single detail. I take the characteristics of each as a given and work from there. I don't have any problems bending timelines etc. I'm so happy you think I have Shikamaru in character ï?Š
I actually have seen the early episodes of the chuunin exam, but Ino still didn't grow on me. I really thought that the two girls' fight scene was pathetic too. I know Ino is not useless and I find it sad that shonen mangas almost always keep girl characters one-dimensional. Even with the Ino portrayed in other fan fictions being awesome, I still can't really care too much for her. Perhaps her faults (bossy, loud, stubborn) are too reminiscent of my own? Well, hopefully I wasn't too harsh on Sakura.
To Shika Love and Lady Light:
Thank you for leaving a review. It makes me happy just to know that someone enjoyed my work!
So if anyone else is out there reading this, let me know what you think! The next chapter is almost done and should be updated soon.
Cheers,
Violettachan