Author's Note:
Quick geekfic drabble of the Shika/Saku variety. I have these bursts of motivation if you know what I mean.
Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns you, Naruto!
Symmetry was always most beautiful to him. Cause and effect, mirror image. Perhaps what he found most troublesome about women was simply their lack of pattern. The female was an enigma: erratic, spontaneous, and temperamental. Woman's multidimensional character only supported the irony of her perfectly symmetrical body. What a cruel illusion. Typical.
Shikamaru debated this and other things as he watched his companion taste her ice cream. Her candy tongue emerged experimentally from her mouth and flicked the air before settling upon her spoon.
"You remind me of a polyp."
The girl raised an eyebrow at him and returned to her dessert. He cursed internally and altered his strategy.
"Why chocolate? Women eat it all the time. It's so much trouble…"
She smiled and raised both eyebrows. Score.
"Well, chocolate contains high levels of anandamide which raises serotonin and endorphin levels in the brain. Add to that various stimulants and chocolate is essentially an aphrodisiac. You do know—"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know what an aphrodisiac is." Leave it to a medic nin to be so troublesome. "Sasuke was right- you are annoying."
"Well, you asked."
The jounin smiled at his companion. Perhaps this was why he frequented her office- at least she followed some sort of pattern.
"Why do women need aphrodisiacs? Aren't men enough?"
She grinned. "Not when they find us troublesome."
Damn, but she was right again. Shikamaru smirked as he formed a comeback involving Ero-sennin and troublesome women.
"I know what you're planning to say, so let's not even go there."
Shot down. The medic nin smiled demurely and pushed her ice cream toward him.
"You might need this."
Shikamaru tentatively raised the spoon to his lips.
"Yum… endorphins."
"See, I knew you'd like it." She grinned broadly.
Shikamaru glowered. "I see sarcasm isn't lost on you."
"I see it isn't lost on you either."
"You're so bothersome. It's because you're…"
"Well, I'd love to listen to you postulate, but lunch break is over." The medic nin stood abruptly and held out her hand. Five fingers danced around one rosy palm like petals. Five fingers to mirror his own. Maybe this is what he liked most about Sakura- in all her asymmetry, she naturally balanced him. He decided she was only quasi-troublesome.