Nara Sakura, sat on the engawa (porch) enjoying a cup of tea participating in her husband's favorite past time.
With the sun setting and the wind becoming chiller the kunoichi decide to head in after the sky finished it's colorful transition.
She watched entranced as the orange sky mixed with pink as the clouds mirrored their effort. Purple slowly overtook the lighter flamboyant color, melding with the night sky blue.
So enveloped in the darkening and guard down from being in the safety of her own home, Sakura didn't hear Shikamaru enter the house or approach her.
The kunoichi startled when Shikamaru's full weight landed on her shoulders. As she turned to face him Sakura gagged on the heavy scent of alcohol.
"Shikamaru, why are you drunk? I thought you and the boys were just going for a dinner outing." The pink-haired medic lifted a single eyebrow, not caring if he couldn't see it.
The male groaned relaxing more into her body as he buried his face in her shoulder. "Naruto made it a drinking contest and was more troublesome than usual. He wouldn't leave me alone."
Sakura giggled quietly, instantly knowing what happened just by him saying Naruto's name. She was also silently thanking her blonde teammate for the opportunity to see a drunk Nara Shikamaru.
So far she could tell the man was more clingy and whiny, seeing as he whined about Naruto not leaving him alone.
"Other than the competition how was the get together?" Sakura reached back slowly messaging the back of his ear to help alleviate his headache.
"It was like usual, Naruto and Kiba yelled the whole time, with Lee shouting 'youthful' things every once in a while. I had a nice conversation with Sai, Neji, and Choji. Oh and Shino couldn't make it."
Sakura held back her surprised words as the male ranted about his evening. Usually, he gave a short answer like he was giving a report. So it was reasonable that she was pretty excited. Shikamaru was a chatty drunk.
"Oh? What did you and the boys talk about?" The medic milked the effects of the alcohol.
Shikamaru sat up a bit, and with a excited grin he told her that they talked about how far she had come as a shinobi and a person.
Sakura's face flushed at the thought of her husband going on and on about her to their friends. To be honest though, she thought it was cute, although a little embarrassing.
Shikamaru noticed that the woman in his arms was no longer responding to his rant, looking down he noticed she had fallen asleep.
He picked her up, wobbling a little seeing as he wasn't fully sober yet. The Nara patriarch, quietly carried his wife to their room not once complaining about the work he was putting in.
As he laid her down and got in with her, the medic automatically positioned herself into their usual sleeping place.
Shikamaru grinned softly holding her tighter "mine."