Hello my good people! I bring you the second chapter of Paperback Novel! Thank you for liking it, I'm really happy. I was almost afraid of putting it up, to tell the truth. :P
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!
"OH MY GOD!" THIS IS SO COOL!" She yelled as she ran into his penthouse. She leaped onto his couch, and for a while she disappeared beneath the soft material. She battled her way out, only to rush into room after room to exclaim at the 'cleanliness' of the apartment. Shikamaru followed her; extremely confused as to why she would consider his house large when she could've lived in a manor.
She ran back and almost bowled Shikamaru over. She was grinning like Christmas had come early.
"Why are you so excited?" Shikamaru questioned as he pried her off him.
"I haven't seen such luxury in six months, remember? This is so cool!" She exclaimed again, then suddenly very formal, she bowed. "Thank you very, very much, Mr. Nara, for willing to put up with me." Then she looked up and gave him one of her most amazing smiles. Her eyes sparkled (because she's been crying, he tried to reason with himself), her cheeks were flushed (she's been running around) her generous lips were a nice tinge of pink (she's been biting on it, of course it's red; and he's trying to convince himself that he was not getting defensive), and it curved up into a uncharacteristic shy smile. It's a river in Egypt, Shikamaru. The little voice cackled.
His breath hitched, and a distant but familiar feeling came back to him, of a time when another blonde had smiled at him like that, so full of stubbornness and defiance, this time blended with vulnerability and innocence. Then Ino giggled and skipped to the balcony, and the moment was lost. He followed her again, to where she leaned against the rail on the balcony, and she gazed at the stars.
"It's my hobby," She explained, as he settled down beside her on one of the chairs. "I've loved stars, ever since I was very little." Her tone became wistful. "Then I decided to take it up as a hobby. There's Taurus, and then there's Virgo, my Star sign. I was born on the 23 of September, so that makes me Virgo." She beamed at him.
He cocked an eyebrow. "I was born on the 22." She looked at him with amazement, then laughed, "what a pleasant coincidence!" He decided that he liked her laugh.
Then she changed the topic completely. "Got pudding? It's one of my favorite foods."
He sighed, and decided to bring the subject of accommodation up. "So… are you going to move your stuff in tomorrow?" She turned to look at him.
"Oh… yeah. Guess I will!" Then she frowned. "Can I please sleep on the couch?" This caught him off-guard.
"Er, sure?" He decided not to question her.
After giving her blankets, a spare set of toothbrush-and-toothpaste and an old T-shirt (and found out that she wasn't wearing false lashes after all), he bid her goodnight while she snuggled into the couch. Shikamaru flopped down onto his own king-sized bed. What have I just got myself into? He thought miserably, am I on some kind of rebound that is making me crazy? For all his immeasurable intelligence, Shikamaru couldn't stay awake long enough to figure it out.
Morning found Shikamaru spread-eagled on his bed, sleeping, until a shaft of sunlight (shone on his face at exactly 7 Am.) woke him up. He sat up, then collapsed, his head throbbing as if someone had just taken a jackhammer to his brain. He lay there for a few minutes' eyes squeezed tightly shut. Even if he had high alcohol tolerance, it didn't mean that he was immune to hangovers. But wasn't that what I was aiming for yesterday? He thought sarcastically.
Then a girl came be-bopping into his room, carrying a tray that seemed to be glued to her hand. She leaned over him, his blurry vision making out a pair of blue eyes, and blonde hair. A strand fell loose and tickled him, and he groaned with pain when she spoke.
"Hey, you awake?" Her voice was extremely soft, but to him it's as if she just screamed into his ear using a megaphone.
"Argh…" Was his intelligent reply. He dug his burning head into the goose down pillows and tried to tune the world out.
"Take these." She whispered, stuffing his right hand with pills. Aspirin, he noted dimly, as he took the glass she offered him and downed them all together. He nearly threw up; the liquid in the glass wasn't water, it was some weird herbal mix! Then he lay down and groaned miserably.
When he woke up again, it was to the smell of waffles and fresh coffee. When he sat up this time, he wasn't nearly as woozy. Slipping on a T-shirt, he combed his shoulder length hair roughly with his fingers.
Stumbling slightly into the kitchen, he found her – Ino, standing in front of the waffle maker, a cup of coffee in her hand. She turned and smiled at him.
"Hello, feeling okay?" Her voice was still soft, quite mindful of his hangover.
"A lot better. What was that drink?" He mumbled, while reaching for the cup she offered him.
"It's a mixture my butler used to make when I got hangovers. It's nasty, I know, but it certainly makes you feel better!" He nodded, and took a sip.
"Why does my coffee never taste this good?" He groused, as he rolled the rich liquid around his mouth before swallowing. She smiled smugly.
"You have to ground the coffee beans freshly. Then, it's a matter of secrecy. Don't look at me like that, I liked cooking, so my chefs and butlers and maids taught me."
He stopped looking at her with an eyebrow arched in irony, and took another grateful sip.
The waffle maker's alarm went off, and Ino quickly slipped the waffles onto a plate, covered it with maple syrup, a square of butter and gave it to him with another bright smile. He took it with a cocked eyebrow, but he needn't have worried; the waffles were delicious. Ino made herself another batch. Apparently she decided she would help him around the house to pay him back. It suited him fine; she was good at making waffles.
His gaze absently roved over the large kitchen of his penthouse, and then he caught the clock. Plates and utensils clattered as he jumped to his feet, the chair behind falling with a loud thunk. Ino jumped.
"I'm late for work." He moaned, righted the chair and sat down on it again. He would have preferred to sleep than work, but Tsunade would probably rip him a new one tomorrow. He'll have even more troublesome bothers to deal with now. His fault though, he knew he shouldn't have gone drinking on a workday, but did he listen to himself? Of course not. But he did end up with an excellent waffle-chef, so he supposed this negates all the pains he's going through.
"Oh, that. It's okay; your boss called earlier to demand why you're not at work, so I explained to her your situation. She seemed awfully smug about something when she hung up though…" Ino shrugged, shook her head and went back to the softly smoking waffles.
Dear God, he thought with a feeling of impending doom, Tsunade will never let me live it down. The damn woman's been trying to marry me off since my father let slip I was single again. And being one of the most eligible bachelors in the office doesn't help either. Ino probably had no idea that when she picked up the phone to answer in her feminine voice, she'd just shifted his work life into another level of hell.
He sighed; something he found out he'd been doing a lot since he met the girl.
"Alright, guess I'll sleep in today." And slouched into the bedroom. Ino frowned, and stomped to his room to demand as to how she was going to move her stuff without his car. She opened the door, then got an eyeful of Shikamaru removing his shirt. He'd been under the blankets that morning, but now he was scowling at her, half-naked and holding a limp shirt between his hands.
"Do you mind?" He snapped, his eyebrows coming together to form one disapproving unibrow. She blushed to the roots of her hair; stammered an apology and shut the door behind her. She leaned against the closed door, her breathing choppy.
She'd seen half-naked men before, but not this close! She covered her face with her hands, and let out a soft giggle.
He was yummy; his chest was lean, finely toned, which confirmed that he went to gyms a lot. He had a soft smattering of hair on his chest, which trailed down over his stomach into his pants. She giggled even more when her thoughts turned to the sewers. But she shook her head; it was ridiculous, but she was actually still a virgin.
At 20 years old, it was acceptable, but her father insisted that she would be married in white. She was a bit of a traditionalist as well, and she wasn't easy, not to mention her attention span and interest was short. A guy could hardly hold her attention for more than a few weeks, if he was lucky. She shook her head again, and went off humming to the waffles that were screaming.
Shikamaru scowled even further, trying to ignore the blush that stained his cheeks. She just had to walk in on him, didn't she? Then he heard giggles from the other side of the door, and he groaned inwardly, the pink blush becoming crimson. The waffle machine was making a racket, and there was a smell of burnt waffles in the air. He sighed with defeat, crawled into the covers of his blankets and tried to forget the whole thing.
Ino sang "Sugar We're Going Down" by Fall Out Boy as she was driving (she decided to take his car after all) to her little studio near the bar. Unbeknownst to her, she was being followed.
"We're going down, down, in an earlier round, and sugar we're going down swinging," She turned the radio up loud; she loved this song.
After she parked, she skipped up the stairs in her teetery high heels. The man in the car could hardly believe his eyes. How does she DO that? He thought to himself. He parked the black (cliché, no?) car a block away. She continued singing as she packed; she didn't have much, just a few necessities here and there, and some trinkets. She went down and gave the landlady her notice, and walked out; the man in the car took multiple pictures.
She drove back to Shikamaru's place, still rather ecstatic at her luck. She lugged the heavy boxes under her arms, stepped into the escalator, somehow balanced the boxes, inserted the penthouse key and waited. Upon entering the apartment, she declared herself exhausted, and shook Shikamaru awake to help her unpack. He grumbled, and muttered, "Troublesome woman…" But he helped anyway.
Sorry it's kinda short this time, but it's late and my vision is blurring and a migraine is burrowing its way into my skull. It always seems longer in Word...
Review please and I shall be eternally grateful!
Cheers!
Earthborne
