Heello!

Guys, we've come a long way. I'd like to thank every single one that read, commented, favorited, and supoprted me. I'm going to mark it as complete for now, and someday I'll pick this back up to add Shika's pov. When, I'm not sure. Sadly, I don't think I'll participate in shikasaku week 2018, at least not on the official days.

We'll see each other again at some point!

Enjoy!

vii

The wristwatch she shoved back inside the pocket of her lab coat let her know that there were ten minutes left until she could go home. Sakura would much rather take the morning shift, wake up early and work through morning and afternoon so she could have the night to herself. Working after lunch until way past dinnertime messed up her schedule, but it was much better than graveyard shifts. Much, much better.

Sakura tried to conceal a yawn, bored as she was of the tv show playing in the staff room in the emergency wing. Thankfully, as the day came to an end, the number of people that were admitted into emergency diminished, few ambulances were dispatched and the slow flow allowed her to cool down and prepare for the bed that was waiting for her back home. She was so going to call Naruto to come pick her up so she would not have to walk to their building, and he was not going to complain much because he did not like the idea of her walking alone at night.

Stretching her arms, she tried to focus on anything other than the ticking of the clock on the wall. The less she concentrated on the time, the faster it would pass and soon she would be walking through the doors of the hospital ready to have her day off and then jump back to the morning shift. Cookie would like to have her there for an entire day of lounging and playing.

Brisk footsteps sounded in the hallway and she lifted her gaze to the clock. Six minutes left. "Sakura-san."

She stifled a groan and stood up, hands on the tabletop as if she were too tired to get up on her own, chair scrapping on the floor. The nurse gave her an apologetic smile and explained the situation of her last patient of the night, hopefully. Given the vague explanation the man gave her, Sakura could only hope he was not one of those drunk fools that got into bar fights and were still too intoxicated to be helpful.

With a roll of her shoulders, she entered the designated room, noting from the corner of her eye that he was studying the informative posters about heart diseases on the wall. "Good evening." The file cabinet across from the door was her destination. She opened it to get a blank sheet to fill up with his personal information and retrieved a pen from her pocket, fingers brushing the wrist watch. Five minutes left, maybe.

"First, I want to know what happened." Back turned to him, Sakura found a clipboard and smiled in triumph. Now she was good to go.

"I was punched in the face."

She tried not to roll her eyes; that much she knew already. Whirling around on her heels, she opened her mouth of speak and let go of the objects in her hands.

In hindsight, Sakura should have recognized the voice. She had been fantasizing of the day she would get to hear it again, trying desperately to hold onto the memory and keep it as faithful to the real thing as possible. She realized she was shaking, or close to that point. Her chest felt like it could implode at any minute, her mind blank as she tried to draw events that led up to this moment.

On the other side of the room, Shikamaru stood with a sort of nonchalance that could not be found in anyone that sported an ugly bruise on their cheek and a split lip. Hands in his pockets, he gazed at her calmly as if he had known all along that this was where he would find her, eyes as guarded as she remembered.

Sakura took a step back and braced her weight against the cabinet, palms flat on the metallic surface as she breathed through her mouth and tried to get a hold of herself. Then, her medic persona seemed to kick into place and override the feelings of confusion, fear and hope she felt warring inside her, squashing them until they were barely noticeable and she was sober enough to walk over to him and take a gentle hold of his face.

She observed his injuries with an analytical eye, careful not to touch anything so he would not feel any pain. Her brain did not register that it had been months since she last touched him, nor that she only had three and a half minutes left to go home.

"What happened?" Sakura asked again, lifting a finger in his line of sight as pre warning that she was about to probe the purple skin of his face.

He winced. "Sai punched me."

Her mind came to a screeching halt and her fingers left him as if he had burned her somehow. "What!"

Shikamaru wrapped his hands around her wrists and slowly lowered her arms to the space between them, never letting go. "Actually, he slapped me. I asked him to hit me, but that wasn't enough."

"Why–"

"And then Naruto and Sasuke arrived. They saw everything." He went on as if she had never tried to interrupt him. There was not a trace of humor on his voice or face. He was speaking the truth. "Naruto was pissed. He wouldn't stop shouting and I still don't know how your neighbors didn't come to check what was going on."

"What are you talking about!?" Sakura was growing agitated. She wanted explanations and she wanted them now. Her hands twitched and he tightened his hold in response. "How can this be the result of a slap?"

He released one of her wrists to touch at the dried blood on his chin. "Sasuke punched me afterwards."

First Sai, now Sasuke. Sakura tugged her other arm free and walked away from him, hair in her hands, pulling at the pink locks tightly. She had to refrain herself from crouching in one corner of the room to let out a yell of frustration. This was not how she wanted their reunion to go! She had never once thought that any of her friends would resort to violence, especially given that it was not Shikamaru's fault that she had not met him sooner. How could anyone ever guess that Sai would harm him in any way? He had seemed so willing to tell her if he ever came across the group. Sasuke was a bit fed up with the entire thing, but it was not like she had believed he would do that.

Sakura picked the discarded clipboard to fan herself, only to set it on the table when she realized her hands were too unsteady. She hid one of them in her armpit and pressed the other fist to her mouth, foot tapping on the floor in hopes that it would be enough to drive her anxiety away. Palms settled on her shoulders and she opened her eyes to find Shikamaru looking at her, neutral expression gone, eyes shining with concern.

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. "I met Sasuke in the mall a while ago. I don't know how he knew it was me, but he came over and we... Had a talk. He gave me your address." She blinked and tried to make sense out of it, but her thoughts were too jumbled. "I finally went there today after much insistence from Ino and Choji, mostly Ino. Sai was there and I knew that I had used all my courage to go to your apartment. I had nothing left that would get me here."

"You..." She began after a minute of silence. "You asked him to punch you."

"Yes."

"Why!?"

Shikamaru had the nerve of sounding annoyed in that moment. "I think I told you already."

"I know you used the injury as an excuse to come here." She bristled, hands now curled into fists and shaking by her sides. "But a punch? Seriously? Ino told me you're a genius and you do this – this pretty stupid thing if you ask me! "

"It was a decision made in the heat of the moment." His shoulders sagged and his palms went down along the length of her arms. "After we'd explained why Sai slapped me, Sasuke punched me for being an asshole. Not that he said it, Naruto did, but I'm sure the feeling was mutual."

Sakura touched her fingertips to her brow, hid her face in her palms, and let out a weary chuckle as her hands dropped back down and she smiled at him. "I think they can read each other's minds, too."

He smiled at her, his features softening, making her heart swell with affection. Her hand searched for the closest drawer and she pulled out a packet of baby wipes, using one of the scented tissues to clean his skin gently. He was warm beneath her fingers, head tilted into her touch, eyelids slipping closed as he sighed at her ministrations. She wanted to kiss him, badly. She wanted it to be hard and aggressive, then slow and sensual. Sakura wanted to place small kisses all over his face and wanted to hold him and never let him go. He was finally here and if it were not for his breathing that fanned her wrist, she would have believed that it was a dream that graced her during a nap in the staff room.

"I don't think there's much I can do for you. It'll heal on its own."

His eyes opened, brown and more beautiful than she remembered. "You can give me your phone and then let me drive you home."

Sakura smiled, leaned up to kiss the uninjured side of his mouth. "I'd like that."

Shikamaru did not think Ino had ever been this loud before. Raising her voice was no new concept to her, but she had never gotten to this point before. He also could not recall if Sakura could match Ino's intensity, yet there they were, squealing in the middle of the food court and attracting a lot of stares from the people around them. At least, they were by the sidelines and could easily pretend they did not know them to avoid some embarrassment. He chose not to complain aloud, but did stick a finger in his ear as he usually did when the blonde started nagging at him.

Choji, noticing this, chuckled and leaned back in his chair. "It's only the first time they met. There are many more days like this to come."

"It's the second time I get to talk personally to Sakura, and I had the brilliant idea of sacrificing some alone time with her to make Ino happy."

"You've been making a lot of questionable decisions lately." He eyed the healing bruise on his friend's face, and Shikamaru turned his head away with a click of his tongue. "She was wondering why you'd invited her to the mall. She had hopes that you were finally going to buy her something out of your own free will."

Shikamaru scoffed. "Oh, please. If she had interest in food, I'd buy her, but she only thinks about designer clothes."

"That's true."

"Besides, now I have someone of my own to spoil." He smirked slightly at his best friend, as much as his injured lip would let him, and returned his gaze to the women still hugging and flailing some feet away. "You're on your own now, buddy."

"You? Spoiling someone?" Choji inquired with a raised brow, a bemused smile twisting his lips. "I didn't think I'd live to see that day."

Shikamaru chose not to say that he, too, did not think the day would ever come.

"I can handle Ino if it means you're happy, though." His friend's affectionate gaze landed on the blonde that had launched herself in an avid conversation with the pink haired woman. "Are you happy?"

He turned his head to look at him. Shikamaru very rarely displayed his emotions openly and so Choji figured that, if he was smiling like that without a trace of a frown on his face, with his body relaxed as it was, willing to go some time without complaining about Ino being troublesome, then yes, he was truly happy. It had been a while since Shikamaru last was this easy-going.

They had been worried after the fiasco with his ex that Shikamaru would never let himself feel attracted to anyone ever again. And then the worry returned on their last day at the hotel when Sakura and her group had left and no one woke him up because none of them had thought he would make a move, much less on the last night they had there. Trying to find her was an adventure on its own and trying to get him to ask Asuma for contacts was an even bigger quest. He refused to accept any kind of help from them and did his search on his own, trying to be as discreet about is as humanly possible.

When the day came for them to visit Asuma, Kurenai and their newborn baby in the hospital, both adults were oddly tense. They chalked it up to weariness. Kurenai was only half-awake when they got there and Asuma seemed like he had not gotten a wink of sleep in the last two days. It was only when he got Shikamaru to run an easy errand for him that they revealed to the younger couple that Sakura worked in that hospital, and no one knew what to do with that information. Shikamaru had kept quiet about it, so they were not sure if he still wanted to find her and pick up from where they left off.

Choji had been close enough to see Shikamaru refuse one or two offers to go on dates in favor of spending his idle time by himself in his apartment. Sure, him turning down girls was nothing new, but knowing that he avoided the topic of Sakura or the beach altogether got them all feeling a bit suspicious.

He looked away when his friend gave one of the approaching women one of the largest smiles he had seen. Finally, things were starting to look up.

Sakura smiled into her drink as Karin nudged her ribs with her elbow, wagging her eyebrows with a sly smile on her lips. "So that's your mystery boy."

"Shush, Karin, you'll make me red in the face."

"Like you'd need any help to achieve that." She pushed her away slightly. "You've been all pink ever since you two arrived hand in hand."

Suigetsu had organized another meet up in their favorite bar and it was a good opportunity to introduce Shikamaru to the group, as well as add him, Ino and Choji to their friendship circle. Sakura and Karin sat close to one another as they men occupied the rest of the table and teased the newcomer to no end, Naruto occasionally throwing threats in between jokes. The other couple had yet to arrive and meanwhile Karin was trying to get her to spill the beans.

"I'm really happy you found him, y'know." She confessed in a lower tone, leaning onto her friend as she picked at her nails to pretend they were not talking about someone of their group. "Last time you wouldn't stand still checking your phone all the time."

"He found me," Sakura replied softly, twirling her glass to watch the colored liquid swirl. "Like I had hoped he would. I could've asked Kakashi for help, but didn't."

Karin shrugged as best as she could in their current position. "The universe has a funny way of making things work. Maybe you two needed this time apart to learn a few things."

Sakura figured she could have a point and tried to find what had changed in the months between separation and reunion. She settled well in her job, got much closer to Sai than she had ever expected, got a dog, met new people, made a few new friends, and surprisingly had a few heartfelt conversations with Sasuke of all people. That was not to say she did not experience bad times or had to deal with negative feelings, but those helped her grow in some way. She wondered what Shikamaru had been up to all this time.

The bar was lively that night with upbeat songs playing, actually good songs that she could sing along if she wanted. The redhead straightened in her seat and flipped her hair over her shoulder nonchalantly, keeping an eye on a small vacant table that no one had seemed to notice yet. Sakura stood up to wave at the two people that had just arrived, and Karin sprung to her feet.

After a very brief introduction, she grabbed both Ino and Sakura and steered them away from the table full of men so they could get to know each other better, and by the looks of it, the girls seemed to like her idea.

It was not their first date, but it was the first time he came over to her apartment for dinner. Naruto as usual had opposed to the idea and she could feel that Sasuke silently agreed with him, but one evil glare from her and a twitch of her finger was enough to get them to stay in their lanes. Just when she thought she could count on Sasuke to side with her, he went and sided with his boyfriend instead. Damn overprotective friends. Even Sai was beginning to act funny. Kakashi had yet to say anything that would leave her mortified and, thankfully, Yamato was the only sensible one that did not stick his nose in other people's business. She knew they all meant well, but it was not like Shikamaru was a complete stranger and she was defenseless.

She sat on the counter of her kitchen after their meal, left the dishes in the sink to wash later upon his request. He had brought some ingredients for the food they cooked together and the wine he had picked was one of the best she had ever had. She felt a bit fuzzy, and when he presented her a box of chocolates, the feeling intensified. The pieces melted on her tongue, and they spoke quietly in between bites, laughing softly ever so often.

This was very nice. Sakura had not thought much about what would happen after they met again, partly because she did not dare to hope and fantasize about something uncertain, despite the fact that she did when she got too distracted, but mostly because her biggest wish was to simply find him again. At first, she had been afraid he would be the likes of Sasuke that did not display affection often, but he was nowhere close to that. He held her hand, kissed her in public, wrapped an arm around her shoulders or her waist and stood close to her whenever they stopped walking for a reason or another. He did not pop food in her mouth as he was doing now with the sweet treats, something she believed he found too intimate perhaps, but he never masked any of his feelings for her.

Shikamaru pushed away from where he was leaning against the counter to stand before her, hands on her knees. The bruise on his face had healed nicely and so did his lips. She was happy to say that she got the chance to kiss his mouth many times after the wound closed, especially to make up for the time in which she wanted him to kiss her senseless, but was afraid to hurt him in the process.

Her legs parted to let him step closer, her tongue darting across her bottom lip to lick away some chocolate and anticipation. His narrow eyes followed the movement, slowly dragging up to meet her gaze, and he cupped one side of her face. Her heart was thrumming in her chest and her legs tightened around his waist, begging him to come closer. He complied with a quirk of his lips and angled her head delicately, bringing his mouth to her own and slanting his lips deliciously across hers. When his hands brushed her thighs, she sighed, and when his fingers dug into her hips, she whimpered.

They knew it was that sound she made that prompted a change in pace. His tongue dove into her mouth and she held onto his shoulders, let him pull them as close as possible, let herself be leaned back as he claimed dominance. Callused fingertips travelled over her sides beneath the shirt and she pulled away with a gasp, her own fingers lost in his hair that had been let loose at some point without them ever knowing.

His eyes opened slowly, breath fanning across the flushed skin of her cheek as he tilted his head to whisper in her ear. "You are... The best troublesome thing in my life." Sakura felt herself melt at the same time something tightened within her, low in her abdomen. "I should've come to you sooner."

"The universe has a funny way of making things work." She recited Karin's words that sounded so far away in her head, a distant echo in the haze that was her mind filled to the brim with Shikamaru and the things he made her feel. "You're here now."

He gave her a lingering kiss on the lips, "I'm here now," and pulled back, gathering her in his arms.

Sakura squealed and held onto him, legs locking in place as his hands gripped her ass and he maneuvered them clumsily through her apartment. She laughed as she kissed him, barely stopping to reach behind her and open the door of her bedroom. Her back connected to the mattress of her bed and Shikamaru easily claimed his place above her, set between her legs with his hips on hers applying pressure with slow dips.

He kissed the skin of her shoulders, she squirmed beneath him. Her nails travelled down his back and grazed his skin as she lifted the shirt off his body. His lips found her bare collarbone, and Sakura lifted her hips when he hooked his thumbs on the waistband of her shorts.

Shikamaru pulled back to caress her lips with his own, gentle, tender, his strong arms supporting his weight on either side of her head. "We've got some catching up to do."

She smiled. It was hard to breathe whenever her bare chest rose and touched his. He was so, so warm and so hard that her mouth went dry. "Don't rush it." A sigh interlaced with a moan left her when he shifted, her legs falling open as far as they could go. "Make it last."