Chapter 13: Promises
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It was nighttime when Hinata sat on the edge of Hanabi's bed, watching her younger sister pack her bag for tomorrow's trip to Suna. While packing, Hanabi shared her version of the events that occurred just hours before, since Hanabi had been a witness to it all.
Hanabi explained that she was having lunch with Sakura when Sasuke had come to visit her sensei at work and pulled her away for a moment. The two adults had been immersed in a heated conversation while standing at a distance, not realizing Hanabi was able to read their lips from far away. Hanabi could make out that the Uchiha had been there to tell Sakura about his plans to leave the village to travel, his first stop being Suna.
Not a few moments later, an angry Naruto, in sage mode, burst inside the hospital's cafeteria, destroying the double doors in the process; Hanabi deduced that being in sage mode allowed Naruto to be to pinpoint Uchiha's location. It was right around that time when everyone in the entire village felt the first strong pulse of chakra, which no doubt had belonged to Naruto.
"I had to help the innocent, unsuspected civilians evacuate," Hanabi recounted.
"That's so like him to always lose his temper..." Hinata said, as she reached for a nearby pillow and hugged it.
Picking up where she left off, Hanabi described how Sakura had lifted both hands, bringing them down in a chopping motion, striking both of them on top of their heads. While delivering her violence, she warned them against destroying the hospital or the village. The Uchiha's solution had been to open up a portal and relocate elsewhere to fight. He had glanced over his shoulder as some form of invitation, to which Naruto and Sakura followed.
Ignoring Sakura's instruction to stay behind, Hanabi leaped inside the portal to follow right as it was about to close off. They relocated to a deserted terrain, a little far from the village.
"You followed them in? Are you insane, Hanabi? You could've gotten hurt!"
"I know, and I almost did get hurt since they destroyed an entire chunk of terrain. Sakura-chan had to save me a few times from some woods, trees, and rocks that had turned into projectiles," And when she spoke, she was so relaxed, as though what she witnessed was a regular everyday occurrence.
"I don't know what I'm going to do with you, next time you see danger, please run the other way silly." Hinata's expression twisted into worry as she spoke from behind the pillow, but listened in anyway as though it was all just a bedtime story.
"Run the other way?" Hanabi scoffed, didn't her sister already know by now how curious she could get? Hanabi absentmindedly grabbed a kunai, her favorite one adorned with an action figure trinket. She joined Hinata and sat next to her as she fidgeted with the kunai in her hand. "Anyway, where was I?"
"Projectiles."
"Ah, yes," Hanabi picked up where she left off. "And then Naruto-Kun and Uchiha-san couldn't move! Turns out their shadow was captured by Nara-san, and while they were frozen by his shadow, he had created an opportunity for Sakura-sensei to beat them up!" Hanabi neglected the kunai as she keeled over as broke into laughter. "It was actually kind of hilarious to see my sensei so angry. They're all so unbelievably strong, Onee-chan… I don't know if I'll ever be able to reach that level,"
Hinata smiled softly, before letting her know how much she believed in her.
"Hanabi-chan, if anyone can get there, it's you. You have a lot of potential…"
Hanabi had to look away, suddenly overwhelmed by her sincerity. It was a little exhausting sometimes to have all these expectations placed on her. But she was aware Hinata never noticed it.
"So, um," Suddenly blushing, Hinata hugged the pillow closer before asking, "Did Shikamaru-kun help stop the fight?"
Shikamaru-kun?
"Not really, he made it worse since it sounded like he had picked the Uchiha's side, not the wisest thing to do. It was Lord Kakashi that came in and stopped all of them. We almost got suspended from our Suna mission on the spot. Naruto-kun has to do D-rank missions for two weeks as a punishment. "
"Well, I'm happy that you weren't dragged into it,"
"Same. By the way, I'm here if you need to talk about your ex, it sucks what happened to you,"
"There's not much to say, Hanabi-chan… He mostly created an inconvenience for me. The elders will be neglecting me for a while as they try to deal with the scandal and the upcoming trial,"
Hanabi hummed in response, not quite understanding what was so bad about being neglected by the elders.
"I thought you hated going to the meetings anyway."
"Meetings are, well, essential..."
She had been looking forward to sharing her thesis and receiving research funding. But perhaps the good thing that came out of the scandal is that Yoshino had time to help her edit the draft without having to rush. Hinata had written to her earlier, to let her know of the development, thus the two agreed to meet up at Nara's residency to finish it together.
"I can cook lunch for you and your team, tomorrow," Hinata added with a smile, changing the subject.
"Really? Yey!"
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After Kakashi had helped stop the fight, yesterday afternoon, Shikamaru had been sent home for breaking the Hokage's trust. He was summoned back the next day after the Konoha council decided on the appropriate punishment for his insubordination.
He stood in front of the Hokage, half-listening, while mostly thinking about how he didn't have any regrets over his course of actions. Kakashi filled him in, letting him know that the whole situation had been a little test with the hopes of encouraging him to question authority a little more, but not defy it.
Her smile had been his reward, or maybe it was the kiss. He couldn't wait to see Hinata again.
"They're giving you a light sentence ultimately because I underestimated you, and didn't account for the scenario that you might go rogue on me."
"Calling me a rogue, aren't you exaggerating a little?" Shikamaru chuckled at the absurdity of it all.
"Am I? You just pulled a Sasuke on me. I also expect something like this from Naruto, but certainly not from you. When did you start making rash decisions all of a sudden?"
There was a slow pause, as if Kakashi had figured something out during mid-rant. Sasuke had hinted that something related to Hinata might be enough to make Shikamaru act. Kakashi had known about the breakup for some time, since Gaara had written to him, expressing his wish for there to be no bad blood between the Nara clan and the Sand village.
Shikamaru was pretty much single right now...
"So that's how it is," Kakashi chuckled while thoughtfully rubbing his chin. "This is quite the development for you. I thought you were all about regular girls who weren't too ugly or too pretty,"
Why did everyone seem to know about that cringy speech he gave when he was young? Shikamaru gave a sad smile when thinking about how it might've been his late father or late sensei that might've gossiped about him.
"My lapse in judgment won't happen again," Shikamaru said after much contemplation, not bothering to even address Hokage's comment, which no doubt alluded to Hinata. "I'll see you in two weeks," He said with slight irritation.
"Out of all the girls in the village," Kakashi called out as Shikamaru was exiting the room. The Hokage could only imagine that from here on things were going to get rough, and not just for Shikamaru, but also himself. He was sure his advisor was going to get pulled into the drama that came along with Hyuga politics, especially since it concerned a radical clan leader.
Shikamaru didn't stay to hear the last part, since he already knew that Hinata Hyuga had always been off-limits.
"I get D-rank missions, and you get a suspension. What did you do? I want a vacation too," Naruto commented as Shikamaru stepped outside the Hokage's office. The blond had been trying to listen in but couldn't hear much of the conversation.
"Righting a wrong seems to be right up your alley, you should try it and join me on the dark side of the suspension,"
They started walking down the hall, pausing when in front of their shared office.
"No, thanks. But going against Kakashi's decision on something? That's pretty ballsy, even for you."
After locking the door to their shared office, Naruto thought to invite him somewhere.
"Hey, Sakura's leaving for Suna today. Let's see her off,"
He didn't mention anything about Sasuke and Sai waiting outside the tower.
"I might as well tag along. I got a letter I need to send to Gaara," Shikamaru replied lazily, as he tucked his hands inside his pockets.
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There was a strangeness to seeing those four together. It was like mixing oil with water. Yet there they were for different reasons.
Naruto walked in front, almost leading, his body half-turned to the group. Sai appeared to be the most engaging in conversation out of all of them, while Shikamaru and Sasuke lagged in no particular hurry, as they tried to keep a distance away from the blond.
It was too early to deal with Naruto's energy.
They were headed towards the lonesome booth located close to the outskirts of the village, right by the village's gate. The booth was manned by Izumo and Kotetsu. They were stationed there to oversee the logs of who goes in and out of the village.
"Oi, Shikamaru, how's that eye healing up?" Naruto called over his shoulder, smiling as innocently as ever, as he addressed the shadow user who lagged.
"How do you think it's healing up?" Shikamaru shot back as he recalled Naruto's rage.
Shikamaru had tried to help Sakura break up the fight between those two idiots, but Naruto's shadow was hard to keep down during his psychotic frenzy. He dared to punch him in the face. The fight ended when Kakashi appeared between the four of them and proposed a resolution. Naruto and Sasuke both agreed that Naruto could just visit the ex-avenger wherever he decides to settle.
Now that he thought about it, wasn't Hinata's little sister there too? The whole experience had been troublesome, to say the least.
"Not all of us have a little pal lurking inside ready to heal us, dobe."
Sasuke glanced over at Shikamaru for affirmation, for Sasuke's eye also had a dark bruise similar to Shikamaru's. In a moment of rarity, the two brunettes that lagged shared a knowing grin.
"I can't believe the Hokage suspended you for two weeks without pay. You're lucky that you're filthy is rich." Sai commented. "And I presume I shouldn't mention this incident when Temari-san asks about you?" His emotionless eyes observed Shikamaru's disposition.
Shikamaru had trained himself not to physically flinch every time that name came up. Instead, his shoulder gave a slight shrug. He didn't have much else to add as he preferred to keep them in the dark about his situation regarding their breakup.
His eyes slowly raised towards the sky, it was such a beautiful day, and he couldn't help but be distracted by the clouds.
"Oh yeah, when is Temari gonna finally move to Konoha, aren't you guys supposed to get married or something?" Naruto asked Shikamaru.
Having been called out, he moved his eyes away from the clouds. Shikamaru's mouth tightened a little as he felt like he no longer could hide it from the blond, after all, lying was taxing.
He could tell the Uchiha had been staring at him from the corner of his eyes, listening in, over reasons he couldn't understand, as they all waited for him to answer.
"We broke it off,"
Naruto, who had been facing them while walking backward, almost tripped on his step.
Sasuke looked away, as he hadn't known there used to be another girl in the picture.
Nara, you're not as lazy as you seem, Sasuke thought to himself. As he had gotten to know the Hyuga, though their business had always been professional, Sasuke knew enough to know she was too much at times, at least in his honest opinion.
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"The full crew is here today, huh," Izumo said after whistling. "Which one are you traveling with?" He asked the beautiful woman with the cherry blossom hair.
Sakura raised her head, after signing the log, to see what Izumo was talking about. Her smile widened as she saw the guys approaching.
"Sasuke and Sai are coming along on my trip. Hanabi-chan too, but she isn't here yet..."
"Oh, you mean the Hyuga girl, the youngest one?" Kotetsu said while leaning against the booth's counter. "I heard from Lord Hokage that she's a handful."
"We can't be talking about the same person, Hanabi-chan is an angel. At least to me, she is," Sakura said after setting the pen down and chuckling to herself.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto waved at his teammate, while his eyes scanned for Hanabi. "Where's the short one?"
"She's late." She said while meeting them halfway. "So what's up, does Kakashi-sensei need something before I leave?" She asked, while her eyes mostly lingered on Shikamaru, as she found it strange for him to be there to see her off, especially since he was supposed to be on suspension.
"Nah, it just kind of turned out this way. Shikamaru has something to give you," Naruto replied in Shikamaru's stead.
Sakura felt worried, for Shikamaru looked like he had gotten little to no sleep. As a doctor, it was hard not to look at everyone through those lenses.
"Sakura-san, if it's not too troublesome," He reached into his pocket and withdrew a letter, sealed and addressed to Lord Kazekage. "Can you make sure this reaches Gaara's hands?"
Sakura caught a discerning look in his eye. It might've looked like pain.
"Um, sure. But is everything okay with you?" Sakura asked.
"Troublesome, are you seriously asking me that, given how you refused to heal us yesterday," Shikamaru said through a halfhearted smile.
"You guys deserved it. And I don't mean to be intrusive, but try getting as much sleep as you can. I don't want to lie to your girlfriend and tell her that you're fine when you're not,"
"Ex-girlfriend." Sai chimed in to correct the mistake.
"I'm sorry Shikamaru-san, I didn't know," Sakura said once she had recovered from her initial shock.
She expected the silence.
"To think that Lord Kakashi-san trusts me enough to put me on the same team with Uchiha-san," Sai mused out loud. "It must mean he thinks I'm pretty strong myself,"
"Ino likes you better when you're modest," Naruto said knowingly, but Sai seemed kind of oblivious to what he had just implied.
Naruto took the opportunity to throw his arms around Sai and Sakura, he grinned between the two of them, doing his best to make sure Sasuke feels excluded while sticking out his tongue at him.
However, the only thing Naruto seemed to accomplish was annoying Sakura.
"Hurry up and come back fast so that all of us can go to a festival!" Naruto said to the two in his huddle.
"Which festival? There's so many." Sai's eyes perked up a little.
"It doesn't matter, Sai. Don't you know that the point of a festival is the people?" Naruto replied.
"I see. So you wish to create memories."
Sai was the first one to pull away from the huddle when he caught Sakura's glare.
"Why do you always do things like this? Can't you ever just respect my space?" Sakura said to Naruto, her hands shifting into a fist, a warning to him of what could follow.
Once Naruto was at a distance, her emerald eyes finally turned to the last person in the group, her smile a little hesitant.
"Hello Sasuke-kun."
"Sakura,"
Shikamaru turned away from the scene, his attention immediately drawn elsewhere.
Although Hinata was nowhere to be seen, he knew that chakra was unmistakably hers. He waited in anticipation until her silhouette could be seen at a distance.
Hanabi had let go of Hinata's hand and brought the Bentos close to her chest. She opted to run ahead the moment the group came into view.
"Look! I helped Onee-chan make us lunch to take on the trip!" Hanabi said as she stopped in front of Sakura, laughing nervously when she was met by a glare. "I mean I'm sorry for being late, Sakura-sensei." She said before dumping the bentos into Sai's arms to free her arms.
"Oh and also look at what I got!" Hanabi pulled a kunai out of her holster and waved it in front of Sakura to show her a trinket of some popular tv-show character, before turning around and showing it off to the group.
"Aw, that's kind of cute," Sakura replied, taking the weapon in her hand and examining the little toy accessory that was attached to it.
"If I draw it and summon it to battle, wouldn't that be cuter?" Sai commented.
"So that's what the kids are into these days..." Naruto shook his head at how far they had strayed from the ninja path, and it's only been two years since the war.
Sasuke rolled his eyes as he refrained from confiscating the small hanging action figure.
"Weapons aren't toys." Sasuke simply stated.
"They might as well be, since it's so peaceful around here," Hanabi said to the Uchiha, as she put the weapon away.
When turning to the Nara clan leader, the youngest Hyuga regarded him with suspicion and curiosity. For some reason, Hinata seemed to be keeping Nara a secret, since she had never bothered to mention his name until recently when all of a sudden she began to refer to him as "Shikamaru-kun" while blushing.
The clan leader was her sister's new crush. And frankly, she couldn't understand it, seeing how Naruto and Shikamaru seemed completely opposites.
Shikamaru returned the look, eyebrow slightly raised, as he calculated why she might be curious about him now when that was never the case before.
It didn't seem like Hanabi cared that her probing disposition came across loud and clear.
"Hello, Nara-san." Hanabi finally said while bowing slightly.
He greeted her with neutral politeness before his attention shifted to Hinata, who had finally caught up. Today, for some odd reason, she was in her ninja attire, mostly covered by a light purple wool cloak.
Lowering his gaze, he noticed a lot of bare skin showing through the parting of her cloak, before lifting his eyes again to meet her worrying gaze.
"Shikamaru-kun…"
It was obvious the first thing she noticed was the faded color of his bruise. She stopped herself from reaching out to touch the wound, instead, her hands ended up clasped together over her chest.
"Ah, this? Don't worry. It looks worse than it feels," Shikamaru explained while giving Naruto a look.
"Shika, stop whining. I already apologize," Naruto said with an innocent smile.
She slowly shifted her attention to Naruto and then to Sasuke. Both seemed to have bruises as well, but Naruto's looked nearly healed.
Sakura was about to greet her but stopped when she witnessed Hinata's expression do a complete 180 when her eyes stayed on the ex-avenger.
"I warned you against this," Hinata said, almost accusingly, as she glared at him.
"It's not like it would've changed anything," Sasuke began, while pushing Naruto towards her. "Please keep an eye on this idiot. He's probably going to be lonely with Sakura and I not around,"
She didn't know whether it was a bad joke or not, for she suspected he must have known about her uncomfortable feelings when Naruto was involved. At the same time, Hinata was leaning towards believing him to be genuine since he had used the word "please".
"Alright, only if you keep an eye on my little sister as well," Hinata replied while moving behind Hanabi and gently placing a hand on her sister's shoulder.
While standing behind Naruto, Sasuke's eyes finally landed on Hanabi, really acknowledging the teenager for the first time.
"Hanabi-san, is it?" Sasuke said in contemplation, quickly remembering some things he thought he had forgotten. Sasuke understood pretty well what it was like to be a younger sibling, with a doting older sibling. Sasuke's expression softened up a little, as his eyes seemed to convey more than his words ever could.
"Oi, guys, I'm a grown man. I don't need a babysitter-" Naruto interrupted between the two.
"Onee-chan please stop embarrassing me! I'm a kunoichi!" She said while blushing under Sasuke's scrutiny.
"I'm trying to avoid waging war if something were to happen to you on your way to Suna."
As if remembering herself, Hinata almost froze when Shikamaru walked up and stood next to her.
"That's kind of dramatic, don't you think?" Shikamaru commented, breaking into a lazy smile. He had been observing the entire time, intrigued with how different Hinata tended to act whenever Hanabi was around.
"As the official team leader of this mission, I say it's about time for us to go," Sai said over everyone's voices.
Hinata threw her arms around Hanabi, trying to extend their brief goodbye.
"Onee-chan let go, I have to go now." Hanabi deadpanned as she struggled to pull away from Hinata's embrace.
"Make sure not to cause too much trouble. The Kazekage has my permission to punish you,"
"Father told you to say that, didn't he? Well, tell him I'll bring badass glory to our clan!"
"I'll pass on the message," Hinata said while giggling.
"Thank you for seeing us off. If everything goes according to plan, we'll see you again in about three months." Sakura said while waving at everyone.
After the second round of rushed goodbyes, the four took off towards the sky on mounts that Sai had summoned moments beforehand. When up in the sky, Sakura took the moment to reflect on the exchange and interactions from moments ago.
"Hey, Sasuke-kun,"
"Hn?"
"Thanks again for tagging along on our mission."
"I think it's time I repair the image the world has of me…" He doubted Suna would be as easily forgiven as Konoha was. It won't sit well with him unless he tries.
So redemption is his goal, Hanabi thought to herself as she regarded Sasuke with neutral curiosity.
"All this time, I thought you were tagging along because onee-chan asked you to deliver me safely to Suna," Hanabi said, with a mature and vacant look in her eyes that was never present when around Hinata.
Sasuke chuckled almost darkly. It seemed that from Hanabi's perspective, the world seemed to revolve around her sister. But he was curious as to what gave Hanabi such an impression.
He voiced his curiosity.
"Because you and onee-chan seem close,"
Even as Sasuke tried to downplay or outright deny Hanabi's observation, Sakura noticed that her heartfelt was a little off for a moment, suddenly overwhelmed by the realization that she just wasn't quite over Sasuke just yet.
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After the group slowly dispersed, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Naruto stood around, next to each other. She welcomed the coincidence since it meant she won't have to walk to Nara's residence by herself.
"Heh, It's pretty rare to see you without your guards,"
Naruto's observation had not escaped Shikamaru. He was happy to find that her teammates were nowhere nearby.
"I convinced them to take a day off, which is why I came prepared today…" She motioned to her ninja clothes, drawing attention to the weapon holster around her leg through the parting of her cloak, completely missing the look Naruto gave her.
"Ne, Hinata-chan, what are you doing after this?" Naruto asked, his hand raised to the back of his neck, a nervous habit.
Stepping in front of Hinata, Shikamaru effectively blocked her on purpose from his best friend's view.
Troublesome, he couldn't blame Naruto for looking though.
"Naruto, I'm pretty sure Kakashi needs you back as soon as possible. Besides, you can eat all the food you want back at the office." He said about all the fan-made bentos.
"You're the last person I want to hear that stuff from since you have no problems breaking the rules."
Stepping from behind Shikamaru, Hinata softly interrupted their banter.
"Naruto-kun, there's something I need you to know...but it's easier if I just show you."
Naruto still did not know about her being the new owner of the Uchiha's land. That annoying Uchiha just up and left, leaving her with the responsibility of breaking it off with Naruto.
Hinata briefly made eye contact with Shikamaru, almost as if apologizing for deviating from their plans, before leading them to Uchiha's land.
When they arrived there, they weren't alone.
The three stood at a distance and watched as a demolition crew was scattered everywhere, destroying, clearing, and making space. A manager was seen close by, delegating as he listened and gave slight nods to the coworkers that spoke around him.
"His property now belongs to my clan. I promised Uchiha-san that I would honor the memories of the deceased. It's going to be turned into a nonprofit organization that helps stop genocide across the world."
He finally knew the reason Sasuke had always dodged the question about rebuilding.
Naruto was pensive.
"So this is what you two were up to... and you of all people hid this from me. I don't get it at all, I thought we were close, Hinata." His tone darkened as he spoke.
"Being close doesn't mean you will always know everything about a person..."
"Stop saying weird things like that, like I don't already know that..." Naruto's voice said, this time much softer.
Shikamaru glanced over at the two standing next to him, they both had gone quiet. He sighed, as his gaze returned to the sky. He didn't always like having the ability to be able to analyze many things around him. Such as now, when all the pieces fell into place.
When examining Uchiha's past action, it went as the following:
Instead of sitting on assets and letting his land rot, the Uchiha sold it in hopes of seeing it get turned into a good cause.
The Uchiha may not know it himself yet, but all things pointed to one thing. To think he would be the one to notice it first...
"What a drag,"
Now that he had their attention, his brown eyes trailed away from the sky and over to the construction workers as he spoke.
"The Uchiha will likely return,"
He refused to speculate any further when his eyes met Hinata's. The deeper he speculated, the less he liked the assumptions he stumbled upon.
"Wait, what did you just say, Shikamaru!?" Suddenly, there was life again in Naruto's blue eyes. "Are you sure?"
"Ah." He affirmed.
Then there was Hinata, who for some reason tried to hide her content as her eyes trailed downward and to the side, a soft smile overcoming her features.
"Now back to work, Naruto. If you stay away from work any longer, Kakashi is going to blame me for your absence,"
"Alright. I'll see you two around." Naruto patted Shikamaru on the shoulder and gave Hinata a big smile before leaving. "Bye Hinata-chan!"
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Shikamaru didn't say much after Naruto's departure. Part of him still digesting the fact that the Uchiha entrusted Hinata with something like this. Her small hand brought him back, as she briefly reached out and gripped at the hem of his jacket as she walked past him. The slight tug she gave at the fabric as if to kite him to her. It seemed to have worked, because when she let go, Shikamaru tucked his hand inside his pockets, before wordlessly following her.
They were mostly quiet during the trip to his mansion, both inside their head. As they got close to his district, more and more Akimichis, Yamanaka, and Naras could be seen out and about, giving the two curious looks as they walked by. Through these parts of towns, it probably wasn't a good idea to even look at her, since everyone around them seemed to know who she was. The Hyuga insignia was proudly displayed on the back of her cloak, even though it was partially concealed by her long flowy hair. When she walked, she had this aerie aura of ownership and authority, as though she owned the entire ground she walked upon.
Her lavender eyes were distant as her gaze seemed to communicate that she was in the middle of reflecting, before solemnly wishing out loud for the safety of her sister during her trip. Shikamaru reminded her that Hanabi had the protection of two of Konoha's strongest individuals. She seemed to finally smile at this.
When the two arrived at his home, they expected to be greeted by Yoshino. Instead, there was silence, aside from the various footsteps, no doubt belonging to the maids of the house.
"I'm not sure what's going on. Let me go check."
When Shikamaru left her side, Hinata strolled towards the tearoom and let herself inside, and settled on a floor pillow. Moments later, Shikamaru entered the room with an apologetic smile as he settled across from her while maintaining a respectable distance. He announced that his mother seemed to be resting.
Hinata couldn't stare at Shikamaru without also looking at the bruise.
It looked painful.
"Yoshino stayed up late, didn't she?" She sounded regretful over something.
"Don't worry, my mom is not the kind of person to do something unless she wants to," Shikamaru replied, remembering how last night he peeked into his mother's office and watched as she spent her time editing some documents. His mother wouldn't let him close and had mentioned it was a very important draft and left it up to him to fill in the rest of the blank.
"Shikamaru-kun, come here," Hinata motioned to her side, patting the space next to her.
"Hm?" Even though he questioned her motive, he went along without any complaint.
"Here," This time she patted her lap, "Come, lay down,"
He flinched when her hand gently brushed against the bruise on his face as he joined her side.
"Ah, I forgot that was even there," He smiled through his lie as he lazily complied.
"You're very convincing," Hinata said as she waited for him to find a comfortable position as he rested his head on her lap.
"Troublesome,"
Shikamaru closed his eyes when her hands hovered over the bruise. He could feel her healing aura immediately going to work, and he tried his best not to fall asleep from the soothing sensation.
"Who was your mentor?" He casually asked, already guessing the answer.
"Mostly Sakura-chan. Unfortunately at the time, Lady Tsunade couldn't do it herself since she was busy running the village..."
"Your sister is lucky to have Sakura-san,"
"It was thanks to you. Back then my little sister felt so depressed, so I came into the office, asking Lord Kakashi for help, do you remember?"
Shikamaru hummed a reply, as he recalled the moment she had described.
When he opened his eyes, he stared up at her, unable to tell her that the same day might've been the first time he began to notice her. It was not a thing he felt comfortable admitting, because at the time he had believed Temari would be the one.
But how far could this go?
When he stopped to think about their situation, he didn't know what being with her even meant for his future, as it was filled with nothing but uncertainties. They would eventually have to talk about it, right?
He wanted to verbalize his feelings but found that he couldn't voice them, not because he feared confrontation, because he kept getting spellbound.
"Shikamaru-kun?"
The intensity of her healing chakra eased up, flickered, and then the glow dissipated. Her hands slowly relaxed on top of his beating heart. He was staring, silently, with intent, and her cheeks felt like they were warming up when he continued to do so.
Her heart thudded the entire time as he sat up and shifted his body to face her while leaning his weight on one hand.
Hinata's eyes were downcast as she felt a peculiar longing, wondering if it was always going to feel like this when around him. She reached, caressing the texture of his faded facial hair underneath her fingertips.
"Ah, where are my manners, are you hungry?"
Her hand stopped. And Shikamaru didn't have a problem with reading her at the time. Hinata, who had been looking at his lips, suddenly looked up, her disappointment was palpable, and her reply was almost inaudible.
He couldn't resist trying to appease her by leaning closer. He said her name, within a whisper away from her mouth before his lips brushed against hers, mostly teasing her.
Even though she wasn't quite used to any of this, Hinata believed he was wasting his efforts in trying to remind her where they were, through whispers in between kisses.
Yes, she knew. The tearoom. For a moment, it was just the two of them, as she had tuned out the sounds of footsteps that could be heard as the maids moved around the house.
Shikamaru continued to test her boundaries, he always was.
His free hand traveled and searched underneath her cloak, before becoming fascinated with the feel of her flesh. With a lazy deliberation, his hand moved from her thigh over to her waist, shifting his position while slowly covering her. In one fluent motion, she was on her back.
Hinata found herself having to think first, now that most of his body was on top. When he leaned in for another kiss, her hands denied him as she gently pushed him back at the shoulder.
If his feelings for her were genuine, they couldn't continue like this...without at least talking about it.
"I don't think I can give you what you want just yet…"
Shikamaru felt reluctant to move away, but did so silently, not expecting her to start the conversation this way. He almost mistook her words to mean something physical, but then quickly remembered this was Hinata.
Unoffended by the rejection, he held her hand and helped her sit back up. He settled across from her for the second time, in a businesslike manner, as though everything between them hadn't just happened.
"You're the Hokage's advisor, but how much do you know about me?"
He knew about the letters, the Uchiha, and lastly the draft. Thus, he knew enough to know what her next step was going to be.
"Since you know that much… I need to let you know in advance that I need someone who's going to stick around until the end..."
His response was a sharp intake of breath, he knew this all to be very inconvenient. You would think he wouldn't do it, since he wasn't foolish. He was supposed to be a genius, yet there he was proclaiming his loyalty to her and her only.
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N/A: Thank you for the reviews guys. Stay safe!
Edited: 3-9-21
Edited: 9-24-21 grammar
Edited: 9-8-22 grammar and title