Another chapter! And I'm proud of this one too, as I always feel proud of this story. :D Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Thirteen

Just as soon as she introduced the two of them, Ino said she had to leave. At first Sakura looked at her in an almost desperate manner, not exactly sure what to say to Shikamaru, but Ino barely even noticed. She gave the shy girl another small hug before running off, shouting something inaudible about Sasuke.

"That girl," Shikamaru muttered, looking clearly annoyed as he leaned all of his weight onto one side and placed a hand on his hip. Sakura found his small, beady eyes intimidating somehow. "She's just so troublesome."

"So . . ." Sakura started slowly, catching his attention. He looked down at her, and Sakura found she was much shorter than him. As she spoke she averted her eyes and looked towards the ground, trying in her mind to find the right words to start off something. "Well . . . see . . ."

"Come on."

Sakura watched for a second as Shikamaru started to walk away from her and the Cherry Blossom tree, then she obediently followed him, wondering where on earth he was taking her. Out of the corner of her eye among all of the students still loitering the school she spotted Kiba, smiling and laughing along with two others. Somehow he also spotted her and the two waved at each other excitedly, but then when she frowned. 'Somehow I wish I was with him and his friends . . .'

As the two walked along the school but not necessarily in any particular direction as far as the young girl knew, Shikamaru spoke bluntly. "So? Aren't you gonna talk?"

"Oh, yeah!" Sakura said suddenly. So that's what he was waiting for? As she spoke, she rambled, almost as if she wasn't sure what she was saying. "Well, you see, I'm friends with these really great guys, and they're really nice and fun to be with but now for some reason they both started liking me, and not just liking as a friend you know, they're both seriously starting to like me, and-"

She finally took a deep breath, but found she had nothing more to really say. She looked up to Shikamaru, waiting for some sort of reply or piece of advice. She wasn't exactly sure what to think of him, but if Ino recommended him then he had to be good. She wouldn't give her a dead end, after all. " . . . Umm . . . well?"

"I get it." Shikamaru stopped, and so she stopped as well. He scratched at the back on his neck and closed his eyes for only a moment, then he opened them again and looked down at her. "So, Sasuke and Naruto both like you, seriously, and you're not sure what to make of it."

With that he began to walk along again, and it took her a moment to realize that she was supposed to follow. A small cherry blossom petal fell on her nose before she ran to catch up with him, and it was the first time she noticed they were among them. But still, even more than that, she was stunned. Already he narrowed down her exact problem. 'Not only that, he has the names too! And I didn't even mention them!'

She was so impressed with that, rethinking of what hints she could have mentioned to bring him to that conclusion that she bumped right into his back, not realizing Shikamaru had stopped again. She glanced up at him momentarily and was ready to apologize, but he wasn't even paying attention to her. For the first time since she'd met him a few moments ago he had a smile on. "Ah, Chouji."

Looking past his shoulder and for some awkward reason hiding behind Shikamaru, Sakura looked to find a large, tubby male of their age- or at the very least, she thought he was their age- chowing down on a jumbo bag of potato chips. He had rather all-over-the-place caramel hair tied under a blue bandana and puffy cheeks, but he had eyes that were small and quite similar to Shikamaru's.

As Chouji was called, he also smiled at Shikamaru and hurried over, Sakura having to hold back a snort from the odd waddling sight. They greeted each other quickly like old friends, then he finally seemed to have noticed Sakura. He cocked his head to the side a bit as if peeking behind Shikamaru to a little child, then he was upright again. Through a mouthful of chips he said, "Is this a friend of Ino's?"

Sakura was surprised. Were there more geniuses about here, ones that could easily read someone's mind? Then again, they were friends. "How did you know?"

"Don't think you're the first," Shikamaru said with an odd smirk, stuffing his hands in his rather plain, worn out jeans. "Ino always brings me her friends, like I'm the guidance counselor of the whole school."

'Oh,' Sakura thought, frowning a bit. She actually thought she was sort of special to get this kind of treatment before that. 'No wonder he seems pretty annoyed.'

"Shikamaru," Chouji began, licking his fingers of the salt, "I wanna go eat somewhere."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Yeah, sure." He turned to Sakura, back to his sort of scowl look, though it didn't seem to be on purpose. Perhaps he just naturally felt most comfortable around Chouji, or so Sakura suspected. "We're gonna go to a restaurant. You coming?"

"But he's already eating something . . ."

"This is normal; so, are you coming or do you want me to talk to you tommorow?"

Sakura thought about it for a moment, taking one glance at Chouji and turning away. He had a bit of chewed potato chip on his chin, bouncing as he moved his jaw up and down and quite frankly she was a bit grossed out. Lunch? With him? Then again, it couldn't be so bad. She could just sit on the same side as Shikamaru, or if they were gonna sit on the same side she could be on the other and not look. No big deal. Plus, she really wanted this talk. "Sure, I'm going."

So far, for the short time she had been there, Sakura had never been anywhere but from school to home, back and forth, back and forth, every single day. She really didn't have a need to go anywhere; her mother would never take her any where since she was so busy arguing with her father over the phone, and she was already happy enough joking around with Sasuke and Naruto. Well, she will be again once they make up.

But now she was at a pretty nice restaurant or more like a sit-down hangout for teenagers. She didn't even know that there was a sort of strip mall or shopping center, but it was just a short walk from the school in the opposite direction of her neighborhood. As she settled herself down, Shikamaru sat down next to her and Chouji across, already eagerly looking at the menu.

Shikamaru leaned back into the cushion, linking his fingers behind his head and closing his eyes. "Okay, Sakura, tell the story again.And don't try to avoid any names this tome, okay?"

Sakura flushed. She was a bit embarrassed that she had done that, though it wasn't totally on purpose. She was agreeing to try and be fully honest with everything this time; they were going to get anywhere if she couldn't even do that. "Okay. . . well-"

"Shikamaru, do you want an appetizer?" Chouji interrupted, his eyes never leaving the menu. Shikamaru shrugged.

"I guess. You can have it though."

Sakura frowned, then started again. "Um . . . See, I know that before I moved here Sasuke and Naruto were really good friends. They talked about each other a lot, and when all three of us are together it was fun. I really like it. But because of me now . . . they're arguing and they don't like each other, and . . . I don't want to ruin that."

When she was finished, she felt a weight lift off of her shoulders. Not a lot of weight, but enough to make her feel better than she had been for a little while. Her eyes began to water, but she wasn't nearly motivated enough to cry. She looked to Shikamaru for only a second, who sighed in response before speaking.

"So if the problem lies with them, what are you doing here exactly?" Shikamaru asked, as if it were the most obvious question to ask in the world. He was so blunt about it that it almost took her off guard, but she knew what answer she had.

"I, really . . . I really want them to be friends again." Chouji put down his menu and Shikamaru glanced over to her in curiosity. She was sort of in her own mind now, not really paying attention to the other two. "I mean, the only reason they're fighting is because they both like me. I know that. Even if they have to hate me for it, I just want them to be friends."

Chouji spoke next. "Are you sure about that?" She glanced in his direction with a confused expression on her face, and he quickly elaborated for her. "I mean, don't you want to go out with Sasuke or something?"

"No!" Sakura suddenly said a little loudly, surprising the both of them. She looked away again, and the welling in her eyes was becoming heavier. 'Why can't anyone understand that I just want to be friends with them? I want them to be friends with each other . . . why did I have to go and mess things up?'

As Sakura slowly covered her face with her hands, letting the tears fall out, Chouji and Shikamaru gave each other knowing expressions. Without even speaking they could read each other's mind, know what the other was thinking. At the same time, they both smiled and Shikamaru leaned over a bit to pat Sakura's back lightly. "Geez, you're so troublesome."

"Sorry," she said, wiping her face a bit and laughing a little as if to try and lighten things. "I bet this looks back, a girl crying in front of you like this . . ."

"No, that's not it?"

"What?"

Shikamaru sat back to where he was, an obvious smirk on his face. "I'll help you out. Chouji too."

For a second Sakura could hardly believe what she heard. She was almost doubting it was said for a second. So far, the both of them gave off the kind of impression that they were so close they wouldn't even bother paying attention to her, or anyone else for that matter. But to see them so friendly, and now that they saw what she was saying . . . "Really?"

Shikamaru and Chouji nodded, and she suddenly felt so overwhelmed with happiness that she was getting real help through this that she started to cry some more. She laughed a little again, but this time she really meant it. She sniffled and wiped her nose a little. "Gosh, if I knew I was going to be such a crybaby when I came to this school, I would've never started wearing make-up."

For the rest of the time there, they had their meals and talked rather freely. Sakura had wiped off her make-up with a napkin and Chouji commented on how she looked pretty even without it, but as soon as the food had come he chowed down. She giggled, and then they talked about her old school and her life before. She had become a little emotional when they had mentioned her parents, but otherwise she felt she couldn't be happier.

As the three started to walk out of the restaurant and out onto the sidewalk, Sakura still amazed by just how much Chouji could eat in one sitting, she stopped. The two turned to looked at her curiously, then she smiled. "It's nothing much . . . I just forgot to pay my part of the tip."

She turned and hurried back into the restaurant, not noticing that Shikamaru had opened his mouth to speak. When the door closed he sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets, shrugging as if it were no big deal. "I already paid the whole tip, but I guess if she wants to pay more . . ."

Even then he was still smiling awkwardly. Chouji caught it and also grinned. "Ino has a really good friend.

"Yeah . . ."

Sakura stood in front of the table, fishing through the small purse she had at her side for a few dollars. Before she came to Konoha High, she never carried a purse either, but she had learned that they had many uses.

"Haruno Sakura."

Just as she had found the money her body froze, and she only turned her head slowly. A wave of fear crept over her as she saw Gaara standing there, the frightening boy she had met in the library earlier that day. What was scarier was the fact that his expression was still that same, cold, disturbing stare. "Y-You . . ."

Gaara grabbed at her wrist, spinning her around and pulled her towards the door. "You're coming with me."

"W-Wait!" she said, struggling just a little bit. But it wasn't any use; he had an iron grip, and it seemed there was no way he was going to let go. 'Shikamaru . . . Chouji . . . help!'

X x x x x

I'm so glad Chouji and Shikamaru are in it now! I loved them. Chouji is so adorable, and Shikamaru is just plain sexay. Still, in the later episodes of Naruto Minor spoilers! where Chouji was thin during the fight made him pretty cute too. Did anyone see that? I was freaking out! Lol!

krn-kimbap- lol, yes! All of those things need to happen! Lol, "Run, Sakura, run!" Reminds me of Forrest Gump. –Loves that movie- XD I'm still debating on which character I want Sakura to be with . . . isn't that sad? XD I'm trying to choose! I'm just letting the story flow.

Diamond Skye- -Tallies that down- It's such a mix; some people want Sasuke x Sakura, some want Naruto x Sakura . . . lol! It's so much fun. : ) Yes! And of course Sasuke and Sakura should be a couple in the manga. They're one of my favorite couples! And that leaves me to becomes Lee's girlfriend . . . –Shoujo Bubbles- lol! XD

Maya Amano- Yes, that's just what makes Naruto fun! So many characters to interact and play with . . . –Loves- And Lee will be in the story for sure! He's my favorite character, so no doubt he will appear sometime. When is that sometime? I'm not sure! XD

zornoid13- Sure:D Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Darkphoenixsaga- -Hugs- Thank you so much:D Yes, Sasuke x Sakura are such an adorable couple. I love them! Like I said before to krn-kimbap though, I'm still debating on who I want to be the coupling in this story. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon!

Crisis Haylo- Yes! –Hugs- I'm still trying to figure out what that moment is going to be, but I'll soon figure it out. :D For sure!