Author's note: Round 2 let's go! I'm sorry if this one is a little slow – I still want to spend a little more time introducing the universe and really getting the personalities and relationships of the characters laid out. I also want enough detail for everyone to visualize things like Shikamaru's apartment and the University and so on. Let me know if it's too much or if the detail works for you. I'll post the next chapter this week if I can!

Also I wasn't sure about the rating... There's quite a bit of swearing and I'll have content on alcoholism and sex later in the story so I figure M would be playing it safe.

Now I think that's enough rambling from me, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Shikamaru woke up to someone banging on his door. He groaned and rolled over to the full length window his couch faced. Damn he hadn't even made it to his bed.

"SHIKAMARU YOU BETTER BE DEAD OR YOU'RE GETTING ONE HELL OF A BEATING ONCE I GET IN THERE!" Fuck. It was Ino. He rolled onto the floor and knocked over a half empty glass of water. At least he attempted to take care of himself. Shikamaru pulled his still dead phone out of his pocket and dropped it on the table. The banging started again as Ino heard motion from inside of the apartment. He pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it onto the puddle on the floor. His hair was only half in the elastic band usually restraining it, and he knew that he probably looked like hell. He put a hand up close to his face as if to protect himself as he unlocked the door then stepped back. Without hesitation the door flew open and Ino opened her mouth to yell and immediately burst into hysterical laughter, forgetting about the beating.

"Shut up- " Shikamaru mumbled as he reached up to gather his hair and shove it back into a ponytail. "-Why are you here? Shouldn't you be studying or sewing or something?"

"I can't believe you actually locked your door! You and Naruto disappear in the middle of the night and how could you not expect me to come find you in the morning" She walked into Shikamaru's kitchen and placed a brown grocery bag on the counter. She started pulling out eggs and bacon and other breakfast food items. Shikamaru grabbed the orange juice before she could put it down on the counter and started drinking it right out of the box.

"Gross! I wanted some!" Ino protested but didn't stop unpacking the seemingly endless groceries.

"I'm going to shower." Shikamaru only paused to grab his phone as he went.

"This will be ready in 20 minutes so please don't take your time." Ino waved a whisk at him then carried on grabbing pans and utensils.

Shikamaru stood in the shower with his forehead against the tiles, not really showering but just basking in scalding hot water. He was surprised that Ino had come over as she was usually studying or doing homework on Sundays and it was his only real day of peace and quiet. Must be because Choji was gone he reminded himself. He reluctantly turned off the hot stream and got out of the shower. Mostly because he knew Ino would purposely burn down his apartment if he took too long.

After Shikamaru got some food and a full glass of water into himself he felt much better. Him and Ino were both immobilized by the mass amount of food consumed, so they were content with staring out the window watching birds and people go by in the streets down below. There was a pile of dishes to be done now and neither of them wanted to acknowledge it.

"I miss him." Ino said softly. "It's so quiet with him gone." Shikamaru looked sideways at her.

"You know he's only been gone not even a week, and he'll be back before you know it." Ino thought of Choji and his persistently optimistic attitude and sat up from her slouch, straightening her shoulders.

"You're right and he would probably tell us both to snap out of it if he could hear us." She stood up and retrieved her backpack from the entryway, making it look heavy with the way she carried it back to the couch. Shikamaru's eyebrows knitted together suspecting what was coming next.

"So do you remember that one time you promised you'd help me out with my homework?" Ino gave him a dangerous smirk and reached into her bag but kept whatever was inside hidden. Shikamaru gave her a look of horror expecting something with glitter to come flying out of it. He started to shake his head thinking of all the possible excuses to get out of this one, but he had promised her, even though he was heavily intoxicated at the time. He should have listened to his professors advice; that alcohol can be a great time, but can make fools of even the greatest men. Right now, Shikamaru was dreading being made a fool, by having to dress up or be painted in makeup, but Ino only pulled out a green binder, packed full with pages and pages of handwriting with a couple colourful pages peeking out here and there. His horror turned to interest as she carefully laid it out on the table.

"It's not part of my program, I'm trying out some psychology courses." Colour rose to her cheeks and her voice dropped. "I have a, – Someone told me I have an aptitude for it." Shikamaru reached out and opened a random page, reading an essay she must have submitted some time ago as it was marked with red pen.

"Ino this is great! Don't sell yourself short, you've always been smarter than you give yourself credit for." Ino smacked him on the head.

"I know! Don't talk down to me." She crossed her arms and sat back against the couch.

"But one question.." Ino raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru in waiting. "How the hell did you submit this in handwriting?" Ino laughed and just shrugged with an "I didn't." Shikamaru pointed at the red markings with a frown not really understanding.

"These are just my rough copies, our class TA has been really helping me out a lot. He's been..." She left the sentence hanging while shifting to hide her grin from Shikamaru. He nodded understanding but also not wanting to get into it since he knew there were only two possible outcomes of asking Ino if she liked someone. She would either launch into great detail about how amazing this person was and explain every single thing she's ever been impressed by or she would smack him repeatedly telling him to keep his presumptions to himself.

Ino fished out a rubric sheet from the back of the binder along with a few pages hinting the beginnings of a project. Shikamaru skimmed over the rubric and started on the written pages, pausing to offer advice and opinions as he went, Ino followed takes notes and adding her own thoughts as they went along.

Shikamaru closed the door behind Ino three hours later when he had decided that he'd helped enough and deserved some time to do nothing. He stood in the middle of his living area and looked at his kitchen to the left and the couch straight in front of him. He groaned and rubbed his temples, seeing all the dishes hanging around. He could leave them, but then the whole place would stink in a couple of hours.

It didn't take him as long as he thought but he had managed to soak himself completely after knocking a bowl full of water off the counter and had tried to catch it upside down. He mopped a hand towel across the floor and then kicked off his wet clothes before laying down on the couch in his boxers. He crossed his arms behind his head and watched the clouds drift lazily above while he could softly hear the city rushing about below. He spent most of the afternoon drifting in and out of consciousness only moving once to relieve himself. He woke up from a weird dream of voices and colours to see the sky was turning pink with the setting sun. He also realized he was pretty cold not having grabbed a blanket or anything. He frowned but only stayed still and watched the sky roll into more aggressive reds and purples until it was dark enough for the light pollution to take over and block out the stars.

He saw his laptop out of the corner of his eye and felt an urgency he had forgotten about. He really did need it for work tomorrow, and he knew there was probably someone in the IT department who could help him out, but he didn't want to spend the day sitting around in some tech room waiting for it. He picked it up and pushed on every button he could find, then tried removing the battery and putting it back in. He turned it on and a loading icon lit up on the screen. Shikamaru would have crossed his fingers, but he didn't believe in luck, so he sat for seconds that seemed to drag into minutes as he watched the spinning icon. The screen then changed to a bright Welcome and proceeded to bring him to a login. Shikamaru gave himself a mental pat on the back since he didn't even get this far last time he had tried to start up the damn thing. He entered his work login and the desktop opened up smoothly. To be safe, he spent a couple of minutes clicking on random icons to make sure it was actually working.

"Tech fix is a success." He mumbled to himself, proud that he fixed it even thought it apparently just needed the battery wiggled around a bit. He left the laptop open as he paced the apartment, hungry but not hungry. Thirsty but not thirsty. He was bored, and not in a good relaxing way. He opened up his bedroom door and instantly saw the mess of clothes scattered about. He sighed admitting to himself that he was bored enough to clean up. "Guess I've got plans for tonight" he grumbled as he reached down to collect his laundry.

Monday morning Shikamaru woke up in a spotless apartment, to the screaming of his phone alarm coming from the other room. He jumped out of bed realizing he had overslept and rushed to gather his things for work. He managed to get his shit together in under ten minutes and was flagging down a taxi to take him the six blocks to work since he really couldn't justify running there this early in the morning. Thankfully he had hailed an aggressive cab driver who actually knew how to get from one place to another. They pulled up in front of the glass tower. The words KONOHA INC caught the early morning light in stark silver lettering above the front doors. With a minute to spare, he paid the cabbie and hurried into the building. Shikamaru stood awkwardly in the lobby for a moment not sure where to go. He had gone Thursday of last week for an interview and Friday to accept the job, sign work contracts and receive his work laptop, but he hadn't been shown around too much other than where HR was and where the conference rooms were located. He didn't even know where the bathrooms were, he thought to himself while looking straight up into the glass ceiling of the four floor atrium.

"Excuse me?!" Shikamaru snapped his head back down towards the voice. A very small woman in a little black dress smiled sweetly at him from behind the reception desk. "Are you -" She looked down at something on her desk then looked back up. "Mr. Nara?" Shikamaru strolled up to the desk masking his anxieties behind a stoic face. He nodded politely and waited for her to carry on.

"Welcome! We are very excited to have you working with us! Let me call down someone to take you around for today." She picked up the phone and only spoke a few short words before slamming it back down on the receiver causing Shikamaru to jump. "While we wait, let's get you an ID pass okay?" Shikamaru nodded as the receptionist plastered another smile on her face. She seemed a little off her rocker and it troubled him. He noticed a plaque on the right side of the counter and leaned over to read it. Kaya Mits.. She cleared her throat before he could read the rest of her name. She lifted a small camera attached to a cord and told him to smile. Shikamaru gave an awkward smile still processing that she had just taken his picture. Kaya began typing furiously and her phone started ringing. She answered and kept typing without missing a beat. She reached under her desk and pulled out a white card with Shikamaru's information and picture on it. He frowned at the picture and Kaya pointed to his left. He turned and saw someone he recognized in passing from when he was here last week.

"Nara! Good to see you back." The man offered a hand. Shikamaru shook it and nodded with a small smile.

"It's good to be back." Shikamaru was led to an elevator just around the curve of the lobby. He thought he might know this guy's name but couldn't remember it for the life of him.

"I've heard some great expectations for you, apparently you're a genius! Top of your class, graduated early. Even maintaining an above average percentage only doing the minimum required work. That's pretty impressive!" Shikamaru inwardly scolded himself, that shouldn't have been something for his employers to know. He shrugged modestly and watched the floor counter tick upwards as they rose.

"Not sure if I introduced myself last time we met. My name is Kankuro and we're going to be.. not just coworkers, but more so partners." Kankuro shot Shikamaru a genuine smile. Shikamaru smiled back.

"Sounds good."

The two men exited the elevator on the top floor and stepped out into a world of white walls, chrome accents and leather furniture. It looked more like a penthouse than an office. Although it was definitely fitting for a CEO. The building was rounded across the front creating a fisheye illusion looking out across the cityscape. Shikamaru revelled in the view for a moment before letting Kankuro lead him around to a glass office with a dark-haired man sitting inside. Shikamaru slowed down a bit in confusion. This was definitely the CEO, he had seen him in countless business magazines before, and had read about him while researching the company before applying. He shot a sideways look at Kankuro to see if he was sensing any of his nervousness, but he kept walking with a small smile on his face, clearly content and oblivious to his surroundings. He raised a fist to knock but the C.E.O. just raised a hand to wave him in, clearly able to have seen them approaching.

"Good morning Sir." He bowed deeply, a very cultural representation of respect that Shikamaru had not seen much of in the current city they resided in. Shikamaru followed suit and bowed. He stayed perfectly still letting the man in front of him intimidate him with the coldest calculating stare he'd ever encountered. Kankuro cleared his throat snapping Shikamaru back to reality.

"You must be whoever everyone has been buzzing about this past week." His voice was as cold as his stare, with a hint of amusement.

"Perhaps. I am Shikamaru Nara. Thank you for bringing me on with your company. I hope I will be an invaluable asset." Shikamaru kept a plain expression on his face even though his heart was racing. What the hell is going on.

"I'm sure you will be." The C.E.O. paused and leaned back comfortably in his chair. "Kankuro, please show the man to his office." Kankuro bowed again having been dismissed and moved to lead Shikamaru out of the glass encasement and back towards the elevator. Shikamaru turned on the spot and followed mechanically feeling eyes burning into the back of his head as he left.

"Do you introduce everyone to incite fear on the first day?" Shikamaru asked once the elevator doors had closed behind him. Kankuro laughed loudly and shook his head.

"Great idea, but no, he requested specifically to meet you this morning before you had arrived. Probably saw your resume and was curious to the man behind the brains." Shikamaru scowled at the words.

"You know the resume could have been total BS and I could be a complete idiot just here on guts." Shikamaru pouted slightly now knowing the bar had been set higher than expected, which meant there wasn't any room to slack off. Kankuro stepped forward as the doors opened and replied over his shoulder. "If that's the case, then you've got guts kid."

They had only descended a couple of floors but the layout had changed drastically. The theme still seemed to be white and chrome, but now was divided with fogged glass walls into conference rooms with open office spaces in between. Kankuro walked him around pointing out the washroom as they passed and eventually stopped in front of a corner office with solid walls and a sliding glass door. Kankuro slid the door open and gestured at Shikamaru to enter.

"It's a little more private than the other offices even though the view isn't as good." Kankuro shrugged and moved to sit down at the closest of two desks, both facing outwards to the ground far below. Shikamaru set his laptop bag down on his desk and sat down in his seat, bouncing a bit to test it out. He muttered a "Nice" looking out between other buildings. They were on the 15th of a 17 story building, which also happened to be the second highest in the city. Apparently there was a height restriction set back in the 1920's that no one had bothered to lift since there wasn't much need to build anything higher. Shikamaru started up his laptop and found a plug to keep it running before getting back into his seat and turning to Kankuro

"So what am I doing today?" Shikamaru asked over his shoulder. Kankuro laughed realizing he hadn't given him any work.

"I'm going to forward you half my emails and you're going to help me respond. It's mostly editing and scheduling work for now but I promise it'll pick up in a couple of weeks. The true test will come once we start attending conferences with the big boss." Kankuro spun his chair around to face Shikamaru. "Wanna get a coffee?" Shikamaru stood up with a grin. "Yes please."

"By big boss, do you mean..?" Shikamaru motioned upwards with a tilt of the chin. Kankuro shook his head.

"We might literally be high up but we're still working under a long series of people at the moment." Kankuro took a sip of his coffee before continuing. "But I have heard that there are big plans for you, if you exceed expectations." Shikamaru frowned into his coffee cup having chugged half of it as soon as it was made. He gulped the rest of it in one mouthful, nearly choking on it, and then placed his cup back under the machine. He wasn't going to make two trips if he didn't have to.

Shikamaru went through his emails quickly and some were more interesting than he had expected. They contained everything from editing one paragraph introductory speeches to, to event scheduling to what seemed to be classified information about current affairs within the company. Shikamaru came across an particularly interesting one that contained business strategies. He wasn't supposed to add on per say, but more so just see if there were any obvious flaws that could be dealt with before being passed on to someone who would approve and execute them. This one in particular, he really didn't agree with. So he sat with his hands in his lap making an O shape for several minutes deep in thought before turning to Kankuro.

"Hey, can I make a suggestion?" Kankuro's jaw twitched in acknowledgement as he finished typing his sentence then pushed off, rolling his chair over. He swung around and leaned forward to read Shikamaru's screen. His eyes widened as he read the email and realized what it was.

"I actually didn't mean to send you this one, sorry man thats my fault." He saw Shikamaru's expression from the corner of his eye and noticed his look of indignation. "What?"

"Just hear me out.." Shikamaru then launched into why the plan was not only seriously flawed but had a very good chance of turning out to be a waste of time and resources. As he started into his own idea of how to make a long-term investment profitable and beneficial to both parties, when Kankuro cut him off with a "WAIT!" and pushed back to his computer and opened a word document. He gave Shikamaru the nod to go on and typed furiously to keep up.

An hour later, the two men had put together a proposal and were ready to send it off. Kankuro hovered nervously over the send button on his email while Shikamaru stood behind him waiting.

"Is this okay? I mean it really is my first day. Maybe we should just put your name on it." Kankuro took his hand off the mouse and looked over his shoulder at Shikamaru.

"Not a chance! If anything we shouldn't have put my name on it at all, you did all the work."

"Yeah but you wrote it, and edited it, and made it presentable.." Shikamaru moved to his corner and sat back down in his chair only to immediately get up and pace back to Kankuro's desk. "Just send it already, I'm going crazy!" Kankuro took a breath and hit send. It was dead silent in their little corner office before the confirmation ping went off signifying that the email was sent. No chairs scraping were heard upstairs, the phone on the office wall didn't ring and the door also did not come crashing down. Shikamaru didn't know what he expected, but he did expect something. Kankuro just sighed and told him they'd probably find out tomorrow or in a couple of days if they were in trouble for letting the 'newbie' overwrite the proposal or not.

The day carried out with the answering of emails, a lunch, and a several coffee breaks where Kankuro would show Shikamaru some cool gadget in the media wing. There was a seemingly never-ending stream of coffee. Shikamaru switched to decaf after lunch realizing his whole body had started vibrating and he could no longer type without feeling like he was smashing the small keys on his laptop. Soon it was late afternoon and Shikamaru was sending off an email when he felt Kankuro's hand on his shoulder.

"We're finally free my man!" Shikamaru glanced at the time and realized it was already 5pm. He packed up his laptop stood to see Kankuro waiting for him at the door. The two walked together while Kankuro made idle conversation until they reached the front steps outside. Light gleamed off the glass front sending light in patterns onto the buildings across the street.

"Well I'll see you in the morning! Shoot me a text if you need anything." He handed Shikamaru his business card and pointed at his cell. "Hey, Nara, you did good today." Kankuro gave him a thumbs up then turned and jogged to catch the light to cross the street. Shikamaru pocketed the card and smiled to himself thinking he had unintentionally made a friend. He walked the four blocks to his apartment with his hands in his pockets and his head in the clouds, thinking of his friends at school and especially Choji. He would have loved to go out for a drink with Choji and just listen to him talk about whatever and make him laugh, but Choji wasn't there so he'd have to settle for dinner and a drink alone. He took the elevator up to his apartment, dropped off his laptop and changed into some street clothes.

Because of where the apartment was, Shikamaru didn't need to go far to find some take-out. His favourite diner was just around the corner and next to it was a dive bar he had frequented with Choji for the past year. Choji had been living in the apartment next to him so they had spent almost all their time together with Ino joining them when she could. Choji had insisted on living with Shikamaru to make sure he 'didn't go crazy living alone', even though Shikamaru had been counting down the days until he didn't need to share a place with someone. Truthfully Shikamaru was grateful for the company, realizing how grateful he was now that that company was gone. When the lease was up for renewal, Choji opted out and signed to go away. Shikamaru was proud of him, but missed him already. He knew Ino felt the same.

Shikamaru let his thoughts take him to a burger dive, where the smell had lured him there more than conscious decision. His stomach rumbled and he thought of Ino telling him off for not treating his body better since his metabolism was going to eventually give up on him. He let out a sigh but chose hunger over subconscious Ino, and joined the line to order.

Lights lit up the view from the apartment as Shikamaru lay on his couch with some random talk show playing on his laptop. Naruto had been texting him earlier, trying to make plans for everyone to get together sometime before the weekend. Apparently he was hosting a guys night on Wednesday but Shikamaru wasn't so sure his roommate was going to be too thrilled about it. He also had made Naruto promise not to let him drink too much or anything at all since he did have to work the next day. Shikamaru sat up and pulled his hair out of its ponytail, rubbing the stress from his scalp. He sighed and closed his laptop leaving nothing but the lights of the city and the startling quiet of being alone. He tapped a finger on his leg unsure of the feeling of sadness resonating in him. He'd been alone before, but why did it feel so significant now? He went to bed with thoughts of his friends and the people he didn't see anymore.