HEY GUYS AND GIRLS. THANKS FOR YOUR FEEDBACK AND I'VE TAKEN IT INTO CAREFUL CONSIDERATION. I HAVE MADE MY DECISION BUT I CANNOT REVEAL ANYTHING JUST YET. HOPEFULLY YOU GUYS AND GIRL WILL LIKE IT AND NOT WANT TO KILL ME ANYMORE. IF YOU DO WANT TO KILL ME THEN YOU'LL PROBABLY SUCCEED BECAUSE I WON'T REALLY PUT UP MUCH OF A FIGHT ANYWAY.
HAPPY READING
"I thought you were supposed to be on a hot romantic date with Shiho." Sakura sat down opposite him where Shiho was sitting a moment ago before she ran away. Honestly, he really didn't want to see Sakura right now or ever. She had been doing a great job of staying out of his life since their last encounter so why did that suddenly have to change right now?
"Ino misread the situation." Why did he defend himself against her? Especially since she broke his heart so badly that he doubted he was worthy of ever being loved again.
"So Shiho wasn't feeding you while you held hands?" She continued probing, why? Did she think they were friends again?
"Like I said, Ino misread the situation." He grabbed his cooling tea and took a sip of the still hot liquid.
"Why don't you explain the situation to me then?" She grabbed Shiho's tea then decided to take sip of it but he could see that she didn't like it. "That's bitter."
"Not everyone likes it weak and sweet." He commented.
"Besides the two of us." She added some more sugar to the tea then stirred it but still looked at him. "You didn't answer my question."
"Why are you here Sakura?" He decided to ask her instead.
"I wanted to talk to you about Naruto." He didn't expect her to say that of all things.
"What about Naruto?"
"He's suffered enough and he won't stop until you give him your approval. Even if everyone wants Naruto to become Hokage, he won't be happy and he probably won't accept it if you don't forgive him and give him your approval."
"Why does he want my approval? He doesn't need it. Like you said, everyone else wants him to be the Hokage so the Daimyo will probably give in to their request."
"But he needs you."
"So when Sasuke isn't around then suddenly I'm good enough for you guys?"
"Just shut the hell up about that already. I'm sorry about what happened and so is Naruto and we have apologized about it over and over again but we're done apologizing. It's time you move on and it's time we move on as well. You said that you wanted to make a better life for Mirai to grow up in so tell me who's better than Naruto to lead this village right now."
"I am." That immediately left Sakura speechless. She clearly didn't expect him to answer her, especially if his answer was to nominate himself. "Why are you so surprised? Do you think I can't be the Hokage?"
"It's just never something you've wanted to achieve."
"Who do you think would be the best Hokage then?" A long silence followed but he could see that it wasn't because she was thinking of an answer but because she knew that whatever answer she gave, she would be betraying either him or Naruto.
"We're finished talking then." Shikamaru said then slowly began making his way out of the booth. He could see that Sakura wanted to say something but she decided not to. He grabbed his cane and hobbled out of the tea shop. He wanted to put as much distance between himself and Sakura right now. She kind of spoilt his afternoon so he just wanted to get home and go sleep.
"If you let her sleep so much then she's going to become just as lazy as you are." Kurenai stated the next morning as he laid on a couple of thick blankets in front of the fireplace and read one of his father's reports. Mirai was peacefully sleeping next to him with a thin blanket over her since the fire provided over enough heat for them despite the chilling weather outside the house.
"I'm leaving in a couple of hours. I was going to wake her up and let you and my mother deal with her then." He absentmindedly replied.
"Naruto didn't come around today." He noticed that as well. Naruto had becoming to his house ever since he got home to see if he or Kurenai needed help with anything but today he didn't show up. Shikamaru didn't think anything of it, he was just glad that he didn't have to deal with the blonde's irritating guilt today.
"Maybe he's busy."
"I saw him in Ichiraku with Kakashi and Sakura this morning."
"Maybe Kakashi was finally giving them a mission to do outside the village or maybe they were just catching up. There are so many other possibilities as to why he didn't come around today." This conversation was irritating him. All he wanted to do was just lie in front of the fireplace and read over some of his father's old reports. It made him feel closer to his father and he enjoyed seeing the similarities between the way they did their reports.
"What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything. I didn't see Naruto since he left here yesterday."
"I'm pretty sure that you did something."
"You'll have to ask him that." Suddenly a knock on the door drew their attention. Kurenai decided to make her way to the door and thankfully left Shikamaru to continue his reading. He hoped that whoever was at the door would keep Kurenai company so that she didn't come disturb him again. His mother went out in the forest to get some herbs that they needed so she probably wouldn't be back for a couple of hours.
"You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do." Just one day, that's all he wanted. Just one god damned day without Ino ruining it. He frustratingly lowered the pages in his hands then looked up and saw his teammates standing over him.
"Morning Cho." He greeted the chubby ninja who was munching on his favorite chips as usual.
"Morning Shikamaru." Choji happily returned his greeting with a smile on his face. At least they were happy to see each other. Ino on the other hand looked ready to murder Shikamaru.
"So Ino, what did I do wrong now?" He turned his attention to the angry blonde in the room again. He noticed that Kurenai was sitting down on a couch so she was clearly interested in this conversation now as well.
"You want to become the Hokage." So that's what this was about. Looks like Sakura and Ino was tighter than ever.
"What?" Kurenai asked as she stood up then made her way over to them now. "When did you decide this?"
"When he and Sakura had their little tea date yesterday." Yep, this was Ino blowing it out of proportion again. It was best to just let her get whatever she wanted to say out of her system before she asked any more questions. Hopefully all her talking would tire her out.
"He left here with Shiho so when did he meet Sakura?" Kurenai asked Ino. The two of them were clearly engrossed in their conversation and not paying attention to anyone else anymore. He felt Mirai move next to him so he turned on his side and immediately made sure that she was comfortable and kept sleeping. He lightly patted her and she slowly went back to sleep. He heard another knock on the door so Choji decided to go answer it since Kurenai and Ino were still blatantly talking about him like he wasn't there. He wasn't going to fight them on it though. He knew better than to get involved in that conversation right now.
"Good morning everyone." A voice suddenly interrupted them. They turned around then saw Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura join them in the room behind Choji.
"Hey guys, we were just talking about you." Kurenai went over to Kakashi and give him a hug. It was a bit unusual to see the silver haired Hokage being hugged by someone and actually returning the hug. It probably shouldn't be as weird as it seemed since they were childhood friends and grew up together just like he, Choji, Ino, Sakura and Naruto did. His eyes suddenly fell on Sakura who smiled as she looked at him. He couldn't help but feel an ounce of happiness enter his heart as he gazed upon her genuine smile.
"Really?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah. I saw the three of you in Ichiraku this morning when I walked past." Kurenai explained.
"What are you guys doing here?" Ino asked them.
"We wanted to talk to Shikamaru." Kakashi stated.
"What a coincidence, we also wanted to talk to Shikamaru." Ino's words immediately forced everyone's attention on him.
"You know, all I wanted to do right now was go over this report in peace." Shikamaru informed them.
"This is important. Can we sit on the couch?" He knew that Kakashi asked him a question but he was pretty sure that it was an order.
"Cho, can you give me a hand?" Choji immediately came closer to Shikamaru effortlessly pulled him up. Mirai slept peacefully in front of the fireplace. He was just glad that she didn't wake up. They made their way over to the couches and sat down. Kurenai and Kakashi sat down on one and he and Choji took the opposite one while Sakura, Ino and Naruto took the one adjacent to theirs.
"So what is it that we need to discuss?" Shikamaru asked the Hokage.
"Your intention to become the Hokage." It seems like all of them wanted to know more about that.
"He can hardly help himself right now, let alone become the Hokage." Kurenai stated.
"That doesn't mean he can't be the Hokage." Choji innocently pointed out. Choji was at least on his side so I guess that was a good sign.
"Asuma-sensei did say that he would make a great Hokage." Ino memory was as sharp as ever. Shikamaru actually forgot about that conversation with Asuma. He actually wanted what the Sarutobi would've said in this situation.
"It has always been my dream to become the Hokage and protect the village and the people who live in it. Everyone knows that and I have done my best to try and reach that goal but I did abandon the village instead of asking for help so how can I become the Hokage when I can't admit that I need help and ask the people in the village for it? Shikamaru has always been loyal to village no matter what happened. He is the smartest person I know and he would lay his life down to protect his friends and the village. I am going to stop becoming the Hokage and support Shikamaru's goal to become the Hokage then." He definitely didn't expect Naruto to say that. At least Naruto also believed in him so he was grateful for that.
"I guess that settles it. When Kakashi-sensei steps down then Shikamaru will become the next Hokage." Ino concluded.
"Is it my turn to finally speak and clear this whole thing up?" Shikamaru asked them.
"Go ahead." Kakashi permitted him.
"Yesterday afternoon, Sakura asked me who would be a better Hokage than Naruto right now and I said that I would be a better Hokage simply because of the fact that Naruto did not trust his friends enough to turn to them and ask for help. He was naïve and kind of arrogant but he has shown that he understood where he went wrong. He accepts his faults and he is working on it. I never once said that I want to become the Hokage. That job is too much work for me anyway but there was no way I was going to allow Naruto to become the Hokage until he accepted his faults. Now that he has accepted it, I am going to work him until he is worthy of becoming the Hokage again. I'm going to break him down until he builds himself up to be as great a shinobi as his father was so that he can become just as great an Hokage as Lord Fourth. You up for that Naruto?" Shikamaru asked him.
"Hell yeah. I'm going to show you that I can become the Hokage." Naruto definitely had his resolve back.
"Kakashi-sensei, I am going to start my physical therapy today so I can begin working again." He informed the Hokage.
"That's good to hear. I was going to call a meeting with you, Choji and Ino later in the week." That was interesting, what could Kakashi want with the three of them? It's not like Shikamaru could go on missions right now.
"The Kage and the representatives of the Shinobi Union are coming here next week to discuss who the leader of the Shinobi Union should be and discuss an improved trade relationship between the five nations. The Ino-Shika-Cho relationship is arguably the strongest in the village so I would like the three of you to be present in that meeting." At least it wasn't a mission. Still a troublesome task but it was bearable. He had to get back into the swing of things anyway so what better way than this? He turned to Choji and Ino to see their responses but they looked like they were leaving the decision up to him.
"We'll be there then." Shikamaru agreed and the Hokage nodded to confirm. "Is there anything else that we still need to discuss?"
"Your date with Shiho." Ino quickly replied making him instantly regret asking his last question.
"It wasn't a date. We were working on deciphering a message that was sent during the Third Shinobi War." He informed them.
"Were you guys able to decipher it?" This clearly interested Kakashi.
"It was a Hand Print code. It's something I taught the four of them to use when we were younger. I taught Shiho how to do it yesterday since whoever sent the message was using it. She left before we were able to discover the key to reading the message so you'll have to ask her if she was able to decipher it yet." He hoped that everyone was clear on what happened between him and Shiho now.
"What's a 'Hand Print' code?" Kurenai asked them.
"It's when you write the key to decipher the message on your fingers and each letter in the message relates to one of the letters of the key." Naruto explained but it clearly confused the older shinobi.
"It's a juvenile way of sending a coded message but the way it was used in the message that Shiho is trying to decipher is definitely from a highly skilled ninja." Shikamaru added.
"I want to be kept up to date about what she finds." Kakashi stated and Shikamaru nodded in reply this time.
"That's all that I came to talk about I guess." Kakashi said as he stood up.
"I will see you tomorrow." Shikamaru told the copy ninja.
"I look forward to having you back at work." He wanted to believe that Kakashi had a smile on his face under his mask but knowing Kakashi, he didn't know if the Hokage even knew how to smile. He was always serious, just like Sasuke. Maybe that's why they got along so well with each other.
"See you around Kakashi." Kurenai told him as she stood up as well and walked with him to the door.
"See you around as well. Look after her." He motioned to the cute child sleeping sound fully in front of the fireplace. Shikamaru had almost forgotten about her as they spoke.
"With my life." Kurenai replied.
"Goodbye everyone." Kakashi greeted them before he and Kurenai disappeared from their sight.
"So you and Shiho…"
"There's nothing going on between us Ino." Shikamaru cut Ino off before she could say anything else.
"Are you sure?" He knew Ino loved pushing his buttons but now it was just irritating him.
"I'm sure." He hoped that silenced her but knowing the Yamanaka, this was only the beginning.
"So what is everyone up to later? Let's get all of us together again then we can hangout." Ino suggested.
"Yeah. It's been too long since we've all been together like the last time." Naruto agreed.
"We can use my house again." Sakura offered.
"Sleepover again. I've got to go spread the word." This sounded like it was going to be troublesome especially if Ino was so excited about it.
"I need to go get ready for my physical therapy so I will see you guys later then." Shikamaru told them as he stood up.
"We need to make sure all our friends now so let's split up and try to find them." Ino gave their orders.
"See you later Shikamaru." Choji greeted him before they left his house while Kurenai came back inside.
"I'm going to wash me so I think you should put Mirai somewhere safer to sleep if you're going to do something." Shikamaru suggested.
"You're really like her father sometimes." Kurenai replied as she knelt down next to her child then gently picked her up while wrapping the blanket around her.
"As long as she's safe then I will be whatever I need to be for her." His reply left a smile on her face. He really loved the little girl and he could see that Kurenai loved her even more. Mirai was definitely going to be surrounded by people who loved her as she grew up. He just hoped that she didn't become another troublesome girl.
THERE WE ARE, ANOTHER CHAPTER DONE. HOPEFULLY YOU GUYS HAVEN'T FIGURED OUT WHAT I AM PLANNING YET AND HOPEFULLY YOUR HATRED FOR ME HASN'T GROWN THAT MUCH. I MEAN, HOW BADLY COULD I HAVE POSSIBLY DONE IN THIS CHAPTER. I AM JUST ANOTHER STUPID GUY ANYWAY SO PLEASE DON'T HATE ME THAT MUCH. I PROMISE I WILL DO BETTER NEXT CHAPTER SO UNTIL THEN, SEE YA…