Chapter 12: Resignation and Victories
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Although Kakashi was aware that this day would eventually come, experiencing it was another matter. Having Sasuke's last mission report on one hand, while his resignation letter was on the other hand, well, damn. It would be dishonest to say he won't miss his student.
"You were an asset during the time you were here. I hope you believe me when I say I genuinely appreciate everything you've done." Kakashi said thoughtfully as he set both things down. His dear student had already set a date for departure. It was sooner than they thought it would be.
"No amount of flattery is going to change anything,"
Sasuke did try to get behind the idea of continuing his brother's aspirations. However, shadowing Hinata's fiancé gave him a glimpse and insights into the never-ending cycle of greed and corruption. And there was no cure. There was just too much happening behind the scene.
It was tiring, and sickening.
Putting the village's happiness and well-being over his own just didn't sit well with him. He wasn't selfless. Sasuke knew there had to be more to life than eroding in this deceitful village.
"Sakura and Naruto?" Kakashi asked, trying to gauge if the ex-avenger was planning on leaving without goodbyes.
"I'll let them know today."
"Well, what do you know," Kakashi said, finally reading Sasuke's letter and day of departure. It coincides with Sakura's mission. "Hinata-chan's younger sister is headed to Suna,"
Sasuke rolled his eyes, already knowing where this was going.
"Would you do your old sensei a favor and make sure Hanabi-chan gets there safely?"
"There's no need. Sakura will be there," Sasuke replied, as if to say she was strong enough to protect Hyuga's younger sister.
"I miss when Sasu-chan was much cuter than this. He used to be willing to please his sensei."
In what world? That never happened. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched when he realized Kakashi was just stalling.
"Just read the report already, I have preparations to take care of."
"Fine. Let's see what you found… " Kakashi said while finally opening the altered report on his last espionage mission. Kakashi read it thoroughly, while Sasuke voiced his recap of the events he uncovered.
Her guy was no angel. Kakashi felt slightly guilty that the version he instructed Sasuke to hand her only included her fiancé's mundane habits, daily routines, and nothing of interest. It was foolishly empty for the most part.
"Heh, the Hyuga clan couldn't stay away from illegal activities- I bet that's what you were thinking the entire time,"
"Hn. Which is why I'm happy to be leaving."
"This certainly complicates Hinata-chan's future,"
"Are you truly planning to keep all of this information to yourself?"
"I was willing to look the other way if the guy had minor offenses. But this certainly just reached another level. I'll leave his fate to the Hyuga's elder. Sometimes they pass harder judgment on their kind,"
"If that was going to be your decision from the start, why did you have me lie to Hyuga-san?" Sasuke asked, his eyes trailed to the side, recalling their last interaction. He waved that thought away as none of it mattered. He was leaving tomorrow.
"If the Hyuga elders ever found out that it was Hinata that hired you, it would leave a sour taste in their mouth. I rather have elders believe that it was me that hired you to spy, based on a hunch,"
"Then since I'm no longer needed, I assume you'll be handling the rest from here," He said, calmly, as he removed his Anbu mask.
"Before you go, question," Kakashi said while glancing up from his chair. "What do you think about Nara? He's been my advisor for almost going into a year. His annual evaluation is coming up soon." Without Sasuke around to banter, debate, challenge, and criticize his leadership style, he had a feeling it was time to start focusing more on mentoring Shikamaru to be more assertive.
"You're asking my opinion on a guy that makes it known he hates me," Sasuke smirked.
"Try your best to be unbiased."
Thinking back, the shadow user tended to follow the rules too much.
"An advisor should be someone that's your equal and is willing to oppose you," Sasuke said.
"You didn't hold back. Sounds like you'll be perfect for the job then,"
Sasuke was aware of the favoritism that still lurked with Kakashi when it came to him. He almost sighed.
"Here's a thought, why not train him?"
"There haven't been too many missions where I can mold Shikamaru's mind to be the perfect fit." He left out the part that his mentoring and molding is mostly through manipulation.
"Are you sure?" Sasuke's gaze lingered on the report in Kakashi's hand as he recalled something he had stumbled upon a few weeks ago. Shikamaru Nara seemed close to the Hyuga. The ex-avenger came across the two clan leaders, past midnight hours, after coming back from a mission. His client at the time had seemed a little tipsy, carefree, but still functional. While Nara only seemed to enable and encourage her antics.
"Elaborate, I don't quite follow," The silver-haired sensei said, wondering what was so important about the mission report in his hand.
"I wonder how Nara would react if he believed you were going to sweep that report under the rug. It's something that might be amusing to watch," He said vaguely. If Kakashi didn't know about Nara's obvious infatuation with the Hyuga, then he wasn't going to address it. Part of him knew this influence came from being around Kakashi for too long.
"He'll see right through it," Kakashi said.
"Would he though?"
Kakashi chuckled to himself and wondered if he had created a monster. If Sasuke was correct, as long as Shikamaru perceived himself to be in opposition that's all that matters. After all, Kakashi needed an advisor, and not just in name. He almost regretted spending all that time with Sasuke instead of mentoring Shikamaru.
Sasuke slowly set his Anbu mask down on the desk, and his headband soon followed.
That very same moment, an annoyed Shikamaru walked into Kakashi's office to check what the holdup was. He had just been informed by Tenten that the Konoha's council was waiting for Kakashi in the conference room. Their weekly meeting had been scheduled to start soon.
Brown eyes met mismatched eyes.
Sasuke had to tilt his head away from Shikamaru's calculative gaze, in an attempt to hide the fact that he almost broke into a dark smile.
"Later," The Uchiha said, finally breaking into a knowing grin before disappearing.
"Shikamaru, how's the progress going on your espionage mission?" Kakashi asked casually as if Shikamaru hadn't just witnessed Sasuke's resignation.
"What the hell was that about?"
"Just as you saw,"
"Naruto doesn't know." He said, realizing this is what they'd been keeping from Naruto the whole time. Sure, that answered only one question, but there were so many more, specifically Hinata's connection to Sasuke.
Shikamaru had been easy to read at that particular moment. Kakashi could see how his advisor suddenly had so much to ask him, so he interrupted him before the interrogation even began.
"Whatever questions you have, we can talk about this later," Kakashi said as he put on his hat. "I'll leave you in charge of signing off any mission reports that come in."
Kakashi proceeded to remove the evidence of Sasuke's retirement out of sight, hinting that he didn't want anyone else knowing just yet.
"What about the reports that are already opened on your desk?" Both of their eyes trailed to the documents in question. There was a small glint in Kakashi's eyes that went away as fast as it came. But Shikamaru caught it.
"Sign those off as well,"
Sitting behind the Hokage's desk, Shikamaru picked up Sasuke's report and began to read it carefully. Upon reading the first few passages, written in Sasuke's handwriting, he stated that he was hired by Kakashi, leaving out any mentions of Hinata's involvement.
The target in question had led a quiet, boring, luxurious life of excessive spending, he had slipped on the 29th day of being watched. Human trafficking, child slavery, drug rings, Hinata's fiancé had a hand in all those things. He had been hired as a third party who made it easier for all of those things to happen and had been doing it for a few years now.
"I decided not to take any actions against Hinata's fiancé,"
Shikamaru almost gripped the report in his hands and frowned, given the nature of the content, he wouldn't be able to let it go.
"Why? This report is pretty serious,"
"You disagree with my decision?" Kakashi pretended to look at the time. "Ah, I'm already late. We'll talk about why I made that decision when I get back," Kakashi said.
Moments after Kakashi's departure, Shikamaru paused, analyzing the interaction they just had. There was something off about it, but he didn't understand what.
Over the past year, there had been several things he had silently disagreed on, with Kakashi, but kept quiet and went along with the Hokage's decision because it didn't impact his life in any meaningful way. And if Kakashi intended to keep some random criminal's activities a secret instead of making an arrest, Shikamaru might've stuck around to hear him out if it hadn't been Hinata's fiancé.
He rolled the mission report back up, and tucked it inside his jacket, knowing full well that he was breaking confidentiality by doing something like this. Stealing evidence from the Hokage's desk was the least of his worries. What troubled him was that nagging feeling that something was off about Kakashi's decision to stay silent. Part of him believed Kakashi wouldn't do this. He wasn't that heartless.
After summoning a shadow clone to leave in his place, Shikamaru hastily made his way down the hall.
"Naruto," Shikamaru called out while standing outside their shared office. "Something urgent just came up, so you're in charge,"
"Roger that," Naruto replied without giving him a second glance, as he was uncharacteristically mellowed and focused as he did his share of paperwork.
Naruto didn't notice the look Shikamaru gave him, almost apologetic, for not sticking around and telling him that the Uchiha was leaving; Another mess he had to later deal with.
It wasn't over. Hinata wouldn't let the Uchiha's report discourage her.
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After recovering from a bad cold, Hinata locked herself inside her studies for hours at a time, barely eating or sleeping. Her father believed she was catching up on work. Her fiancé believed her to be depressed since her younger sister was leaving her to go to Suna. It was the opposite. Hanabi's decision to go to Suna influenced Hinata to work even harder than before.
She had spent her sleepless nights in her studies reading, reflecting, dissecting, and getting inspired by the books Yoshino recommended. Her motivation to be productive came at the expense of creating chaos and disorder. But she didn't care about the mess in the room she had created, because she was so very close to a final draft.
A knock on the door, followed by an announcement of Yoshino's arrival, had her break into happy skips, as she skidded and maneuvered around the physical chaos around her.
"Please bring her to me," Hinata called out to the other side of the door, without opening it.
"Would you be having food and drinks?" The maid asked on the other side.
"Perhaps later," Hinata said as she looked around the mess in the room, sighing.
When Yoshino arrived outside the door, Hinata opened it, quickly pulling the older woman inside, before shutting it behind her to avoid the prying eyes of the staff.
"Yoshino, you're finally here." Her smile fell when Yoshino didn't share her enthusiasm.
"When was the last time you had any sleep?" Yoshino took in Hinata's appearance. Dark circles, messy bangs, middle part, two buns, a little erratic, and finally, pajamas.
"You're worried about me, aren't you...?" The last time she got decent sleep was when she had a fever. But ever since reading Uchiha's last report, she couldn't sleep, knowing her thesis was her last hope. "I'm just trying to focus all my energy and effort into this before the feeling is gone. I don't want to give up."
"And the draft? Where is it?" She asked while looking around her studies. Books and scrolls could be found littered about, cluttering the surface of Hinata's workspace.
Hinata followed the trajectory of Yoshino's gaze. It landed on her bulletin board, decorated with notes and red strings that connected each idea in a series of webs. The whole ambiance gave the impression Hinata was trying to solve a conspiracy theory or a murder.
"Stop looking at me like I lost my mind,"
"That's not what I was thinking at all," Yoshino said, unconvincingly. "I just think this room is too conspicuous. Presentation is supposed to be everything." At least that is the impression the Hyugas tended to leave.
"I'll clean up while you read," Hinata dug out a floor pillow from underneath a pile of papers, offering Yoshino a seat.
"Please do," She carefully maneuvered her way around the chaos until eventually taking a seat while setting her purse nearby. "When is the deadline?"
"I'm presenting the first draft tomorrow in front of a larger council, but I was waiting for you to read it first,"
The genuine and soft smile on Yoshino's lips vanished the moment Hinata summoned her three-hundred-page thesis.
"I don't think I can get through all of this in one day,"
"That's fine, I just hope you don't have any plans for the rest of the afternoon," Hinata said teasingly. Yoshino didn't reply, as her eyes were already focused on reading the material in front of her. "I suppose in the meantime, I'll start cleaning up..."
While Yoshino read in the background, Hinata was going around the room, organizing and tucking vast amounts of books and scrolls back on their shelves. She would occasionally glance over at Yoshino who seemed to be in a trance.
Yoshino's lips had a small tilt. She couldn't believe their dream was this close.
"Are you allergic to anything?" Hinata asked as she was heading out of the room to prepare something to eat.
"No, but Shika on the other hand…"
The Hyuga leader, who was already out the door, came back and poked her head inside the room.
"What is Shikamaru-san allergic to?" Hinata asked.
"Chocolates."
"Oh…" She giggled. "How unfortunate."
Upon returning with a platter in hand, Hinata set it down over the desk. She rested her head over the floor pillow, she couldn't stop yawning. Her gaze was fixed on the ceiling, while bored, as Yoshino kept reading in the background.
"How's Shikamaru-san doing these days?"
"He's hanging in there," Yoshino said between flipping through pages and passages.
"Is something wrong?" She flipped on her stomach to look at the older woman sitting by her desk.
"I don't think he's told this to anyone yet, but Temari broke up with him,"
Hinata bit her lip, not knowing how to respond to that.
As if finally realizing something, Yoshino glanced up, shifting her attention to Hinata.
"Shikamaru-san, I see," Yoshino teased. "When did that happen?"
Looking away, Hinata buried her face in her arms.
"I don't think it's that strange at all."
"You're right, it was bound to happen," Yoshino said before turning her full attention back to the draft.
The two spent most of the afternoon sprawled on the floor, in Hinata's office, discussing the parallels between their clans, while picking at the cheese and fruit platter, which had been paired with wine. Hinata's family was known for trying their best to maintain the bloodline as pure as possible, purity was associated with strength. Yet, that knowledge was brought into question due to an irrefutable fact that not all Hyugas can activate their Byakugan throughout their lifetime.
Another common, yet dishonest notion, was the belief that the closer they are to being related, the stronger the Byakugan would be. Yet her mother, who was so far removed and nowhere closely related to her father, was able to give the clan one of the strongest Byakugan the clan has ever known. Meaning the purest blood does not equal the strongest eyes.
Similar contradictions could be found in the Hyuga decree that was passed down to her.
From Yoshino's understanding, Hinata's draft had progressed to a more serious stage, backed up with several sources and citations. Her passages were very persuasive when stating her reasons as to why her clan should let her invest some of the clan's money to fund her scientific research. While it wasn't written or stated anywhere, it was obvious what the goal was; to debunk centuries worth of old traditions, since many beliefs had been founded on misconceptions and superstition.
What stood out to Yoshino was Hinata's use of the word "stagnant" and "evolution". She glanced at the young clan leader with a thoughtful and calculative look in her eyes, for Hinata had captured how Yoshino felt about the state of her clan.
Somehow, it was relatable.
"Hinata-chan," Yoshino while straightening up in a sitting position, with a wine glass in hand. She decided it was time to tell her the truth about her real intentions.
"Hm?"
Yoshino's eyes shifted away, but not from scrutiny. Behind her gaze, she tried to contain all of her pain. Yoshino couldn't remember how many times she would wake up thinking how she didn't care if she got backlash for her beliefs. She could do nothing but think about her husband, and all her fallen clansmen. The war had taken so much from them, and while knowing she wasn't alone in her suffering, it didn't mean she was going to just roll over and accept the cycle. She believed that the Nara clan had become stagnant.
"I'm not helping you because I'm a kind person," She shook her head as if those words were a form of self-defamation. "If I succeed in helping break down a few barriers your clan has around themselves, my clan will have nothing but gains," Her eyes were now back on Hinata, she gauged her reaction and could see that her true intentions got communicated across.
"So self-preservation." There had been so much apathy in her voice, that hadn't been there before. Mostly out of anger that people tended to believe her to be so naïve. Hinata had already figured Yoshino wasn't paying this much attention to her work out of the kindness of her heart.
"It's more than just self-preservation," Noticing that the environment had become a little too serious, Yoshino decided to relax a little to try and ease the perceived tension she might've created. "I call it 'evolution…' "
Hinata blinked.
"Please do not plagiarize my work," Both of them stared at each other before breaking into laughter. "um, what's your feedback so far?"
"Are you sure you want the brutal truth?"
Hinata nodded.
"You come across as a know-it-all, savior, who thinks she's so special and not like other Hyugas. I would swap out a lot of the language that you use since it makes you also come across as a little too entitled and presumptuous."
Hinata almost groaned.
"It seems like they were successful in raising me to sound just like them…" Hinata complained.
Which was fine by Yoshino. They sharpened the sword that would eventually strike them.
"You have to humble yourself to them. Don't show that you're a threat, or they might not respond well,"
"I see…then I'll get started on the revisions."
A knock came at the door. And a similar announcement was made.
"Hinata-sama, the leader of the Nara clan is here to see you, he says it's urgent."
Hinata's attention snapped back to Yoshino as she gave her mentor a questioning look.
"I don't know why my son is here."
Frowning, Hinata glanced down at herself and sighed. She didn't exactly look presentable.
"Hinata-sama?" The maid asked when she was met with silence.
"Can you let him know I'll be joining him shortly?"
Turning back to Yoshino, Hinata had a worried look in her eyes.
"Yoshino, the draft…" She wanted to get it done by tonight.
Raising from her spot, with Hinata's draft in hand, Yoshino tucked it inside her hand purse.
"I'm an experienced editor, my dear. So leave that to me, since we're in this together. I'll be back first thing in the morning, okay?" Yoshino said.
With a nod, Hinata opened the door as both exited her room.
On her way out, Yoshino stopped by to say hello to her son, who had been waiting inside the tearoom. He was taken by surprise, but pretty quickly caught on to what was happening. When the letters stopped being exchanged, they simply resumed meeting up in person, which might be even more conspicuous than exchanging mere letters.
He sighed, as he waved back to his mother.
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It didn't take too long for Hiashi to also be alerted of the visit. With much haste, he left his studies to go find the visitor in question. What could the Nara want? Did Lord Hokage send him to speak to his daughter?
"Nara-san, it's quite a surprise to see you visit us,"
Shikamaru appeared calmed when he slowly rose to his feet to greet Hinata's father. He almost expected this to happen.
"I'm here to report some findings Lord Kakashi stumbled upon. The visit should be brief,"
"Is everything okay with my family?"
"Rest assured, I'm not here to announce any casualties," Shikamaru replied while trying not to falter under his calculative gaze.
"My daughter has been feeling a little under the weather lately. So I'll be sitting at this briefing. Please come, follow me this way."
As Shikamaru entered Hiashi's office, the first thing he laid his eyes on was the shogi board located in a neglectful part of the room.
"I remember I played against your late father once before, back at the academy. And if the things I've heard about you are true…" Hiashi shook his head as he sat behind the board, motioning him to join him. "Let's see if I still have any skills left in me. Humor me, since my daughter might take some time to join us." He explained.
"Troublesome, I just hope I don't disappoint,"
Half an hour had passed since then, and Hiashi was the first one to glance up from the game when Hinata stepped into the room.
"Daughter, you've become quite rude lately, letting a guest wait for you for so long,"
"And I'm sure you were a great host on my behalf, thank you, father," Hinata replied with a knowing smile, her gaze trailing towards Shikamaru, who had been in the process of raising.
"Sorry for the intrusion," Shikamaru said, his eyes always admiring her. Her hair, which was usually long and straight, had a wave to them.
When he gave a slight bow, he quickly found that his eyes could wander most discreetly. Hinata tended to wear Kimonos and conservative clothes when in public. But it seemed that wasn't always the case when she was at home.
"It's always nice to see you," Her head gave a slight tilt as she smiled his way.
"What a curious thing, Yoshino-san was also here earlier," Hiashi knew something was up when Shikamaru's eyes suddenly narrowed.
Turning to his daughter, Hiashi studied her body language as his gaze never left hers.
"What I find curious is that you invited yourself to the meeting, father," She deadpanned, like Hanabi, as she hinted that she didn't want to address the subject any further.
Shikamaru blinked.
How was she not shaking in fear? The man was more intimidating than Madara!
"He should be present for this," Shikamaru said vaguely, in Hiashi's defense, earning a nod of approval.
She seemed to sigh in defeat as she quietly joined Shikamaru's side as they all relocated by Hiashi's desk. She fixed the length of her skirt as she descended, her hand slightly inching her stocking back up. Shikamaru noticed all of this from the corner of his eyes.
Hiashi, who suddenly felt invisible, cleared his throat, prompting Shikamaru to take out the mission report he had previously stolen from the office. He handed the report to Hiashi, bracing himself, since there was no going back on acting against the Hokage.
As her father read the report, Hinata didn't bother with questions or small talk as her father's expression went through various ranges of anger.
There was a controlled rage behind his cold exterior as he calmly spoke, slowly.
"How unfortunate for my daughter." He hesitated when handing over the document to Hinata. He wasn't sure if Hinata should be reading this. Furthermore, he believed it was going to break her heart.
"What's the meaning of this?" Hinata said as she glanced up.
The Uchiha had lied to her. Even this report seemed like a fabricated lie, since it made no mention of her being the one to hire the Uchiha.
Still, a win was a win. Hinata placed a hand on her temple and looked away realizing, this was a problem, she needed to run away before she breaks into a smile or even worst, laughter.
"I-I need some air. I'm sorry..." Pushing herself off the floor, she flung the door open and left the room in a hurry, leaving her father frowning.
Shikamaru tried not to smile at Hinata's performance.
"Forgive my daughter's outburst, she was looking forward to the union," Hiashi said while sighing. "Since this is a clan matter, I don't think Lord Kakashi's involvement is necessary any longer. If you may excuse me, I have some emergency meeting to host on my end."
"I'll be on my way then, thank you for your time, Hyuga-san," Shikamaru said, feeling lighter inside.
"Likewise, Nara-san," Hiashi left the room first, leaving Shikamaru in the hallway by himself.
As Shikamaru was headed towards the exit, a maid approached him with hesitation.
"If you would please follow me, Hinata-sama wishes to have a word with you before you leave." She didn't like the fact that their princess was about to meet up with a man in a private location.
"Ah, sure."
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When the courtyard came into view, he remembered the day of the inauguration, and their speech about maintaining the peace as clan leaders. And just like that, he felt conflicted about acting on his own, without Kakashi's permission.
Hinata waited for him by the bridge, which arched over a pond decorated with water lilies. His brow furrowed, when he saw her shoulders trembling as though she had been crying.
The moment he stepped foot on the bridge, he felt some interesting chakra properties he could only guess were there to stop the prying Byakugan eyes from looking inside. He didn't linger on this thought as he reached her.
"Hey," Placing a hand on her shoulder, he spun her around to witness the biggest smile. "What are you, a genin? You almost had me worried there for a moment." He said while letting go.
"Shikamaru-san, thank you for bringing me such wonderful news," She said as she leaned against the rail. "And if you must know, trying to contain one's happiness is harder than it looks."
Shikamaru couldn't hide the look of relief that escaped him for a moment, especially seeing that her engagement ring was gone.
"You didn't like him at all, huh,"
It hit her so suddenly. She felt sleepy and tired, her mind having a hard time coming up with an actual reply.
She simply nodded, "Hn,"
"Hn?" Shikamaru repeated, half suspecting, and unimpressed by the speech pattern. It reminded him of a certain someone he disliked.
"I can finally sleep a little better now," Although that was technically true, Hinata wasn't going to start slacking off over something like this. Her engagement getting voided only bought her some time, but it didn't fix the real issue. She needed to get the draft into the hands of the elders as soon as possible.
Maybe then she could finally sleep.
He gave her a curious glance, as he had not been entirely aware of her plight. From his perspective, she seemed okay, unaware that she had concealed her panda eyes with makeup, before meeting him.
Shikamaru walked up to the wooden rail, half of his body was leaning over as he stared at the pond. He pretended not to notice the bounce of her skirt as she made a small jump to sit on the rail next to him. Right when she thought she was about to fall, her hand reached for his shoulder, for balance.
"Troublesome, I'm not some handrail," He said through a smile.
"Of course not. You're more useful than that,"
Instead of replying, he had no problem reaching out to poke her at her side. Hinata instinctively tried to push herself away from him, losing her balance again in the process. Considering that it had been his fault, Shikamaru reached out, gently grabbing her at the waist, to steady her and prevent her from falling.
He stood closer than before, her knees slightly brushing against the fabric of his dark ninja pants.
"Ah, Sorry Hinata-san," He said while giving her one of his lazy smiles. There wasn't an ounce of regret behind his words as he left his hand resting on her waist. He still felt quite amused to find out she was ticklish at the expense of her almost losing her balance.
There was a small smile displayed on the corner of her lips, as her hands slowly let go of the rail and moved to his forearms, enjoying the feelings of butterflies he caused inside her stomach.
A lot has changed since the last time they met. Yoshino's revelation about Temari came to the forefront of her thoughts, making Hinata believe she had been a little too harsh when previously questioning Shikamaru's character. Admittedly, that lessened the ache a little inside her heart.
Soon, her nerves began to consume her when she admitted that she wanted something to happen. But then again, with her, nothing was guaranteed. Should she be wasting his time this way?
Hinata owered her gaze when she suspected that he could see inside her mind.
His hand left her side.
As Shikamaru understood, he had a choice to make. He was not the kind to shift back and forth between intimacy and space. Since he had already been allowed to be this close, he wasn't going to move away. Lifting her chin, he encouraged her to meet his gaze.
She wasn't able to protest, her breath caught in the intensity of his gaze. The expression in his eyes was all too familiar, except that this time she didn't want to run away.
She surrendered away her shyness when he kissed her, reveling in the feeling of delight and desire as he embraced her, his hand moving through her hair, holding her like he had the right to do so. Wishing to be closer, he straddled her, testing her boundaries, their mind going blissfully blank, but the fleeting moment soon came to a stop.
Hinata was the first one to tense up before gently pushing Shikamaru away. She noticed Shikamaru looked more annoyed than worried. The two had previously sensed three flickers of some of the most powerful chakras. It no doubt belonged to Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke.
Many things could make Naruto lose his shit. The Uchiha is among those. Shikamaru's shadow clone had dispersed, flooding his head with memories of how Naruto had found Sasuke's resignation letter, and seemingly lost it.
"Troublesome, that's my cue to head back," Shikamaru sighed out as he finally let go of her waist.
"I suppose Uchiha-san has finally told his team that he's leaving,"
His eyes narrowed.
"You knew?"
"Um, is there something wrong with knowing?" She said as pushed herself off the rail and joined his side.
"I guess there are just a lot of things I don't know about you. But we'll talk about that later," He said, calmly.
Pretty quickly, he realized that her shyness had returned, and she couldn't meet his gaze. Shikamaru waited for her to get closer before leaning down and pulling her into another kiss.
The flickering chakras continued to be felt throughout the entire village. And it sent the Hyuga guards into a frenzy, as they checked the parameter to see if Hinata was safe. Being unable to find her, they finally thought to check the bridge.
Shikamaru already had his hands tucked inside his pockets, casually putting a distance between the two as the guards strolled up the bridge.
"Hinata-sama! We came to check if you're okay!"
"I'm okay..." Her eyes followed Shikamaru's retrieving form. He had pushed past the guards that crowded around her, lifting his hand to wave, without turning around.
As he walked, he half turned, sending her one of those smiles that she liked the most, her slight blush darkening more than before.
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Edited: 3/1/2021! Thank you for sticking around, and I know it took us some time to get here. Be happy, be safe!
Edited: 9-24-21 more grammar
Edited: 9-8-22 grammar and Title