disclaimer: I don't 'Naruto'.

Chapter Five

-Negotiations-

(Shikamaru)

Shikamaru Nara dragged his tired body up through the winding hallways. Everything hurt. He'd exhausted the majority of his chakra reserve releasing his stress from his confrontation with Ino, rationing the rest of his sanityas best he could to make sure he would get Sakura to heal his wounds later that day that he'd sustained during his...outburst. But now he was back and he wanted nothing more than to sleep as he stalked the halls, to fall so far into slumber he was considered, legally dead.

He didn't know what had made him teeter over the edge of his breaking point, but Ino was involved, Shikamaru bit his lip in agitation. How could something completely normal (Ino being upset with him, that is) be the cause of all his troubles? Shikamaru sighed as he pressed a hand against the cold, sand walls of the hall way, his fingers tracing the bumps and pits in it's surface as he dragged his feet along.

His knuckles hurt, painfully as he pressed his hand more heavily on the wall for support. He didn't know when he lost control of his inner battle, but he was dearly regretting it as he stumbled through the darkness...

Stumbling down the dimly lit hallways, the Shadow user finally made it to his own 'personal chambers' as he liked to think of it, barely mustering the state of mind to kick the door shut behind him. Shikamaru's heart beat was beginning to settle down to a mere, thump thump- thump thump. He scoffed as he took a much needed, deep breath, gaging on the odor that protruded from his body.. Screw getting changed; he could clean himself up in the morning- oh it was morning, three o' clock to be exact.

For the past three months it had been nothing but work work..and more work, everything from formal paperwork, to field work, to new strategy testing "only he could do".

And he'd be damned if he let anyone keep him from his rest this time around. He thought himself very worthy of a good night's rest.

He collapsed in a heap on his rather large futon, filth and all. However, as his face smacked against the pillow, dreariness left him. Before he could allow himself the blissful release of unconsciousness, Shikamaru propped himself upon his elbow and slid a finger in his sandal, prying them off eagerly as he flopped back on the futon.

He let out a rather exasperated sigh. "I have to get up at ten." He grumbled, shifting under the covers with a groan, he slipped his hand under the pillow, shivering at the cool contact to his heated skin. It was then that he noticed that he was burning up. He grumbled, letting his eyes fall shut quietly, his other hand shakily raising to release his hair from the elastic that held it up, relieving himself of the splitting headache he had endured for hours while venting his frustrations on a rather undeserving practice dummy.

--

There was no way of knowing exactly how long he'd been asleep, but Shikamaru knew that it couldn't have been very long, because the sun light was not shining in from the window.

"Shikamaru, wake up."

Shikamaru groaned, flinging his arm out wildly to stop the hushed whisper. He felt contact, his hand repeatedly pushing another away as they tried to shake him, but he would have none of it, and so he turned towards the hand, grabbing the fingers and bending them back as he pried his eyes open, meeting familiar green ovals, that shimmered dangerously in the lamp light.

"Let. Go." Sakura managed through gritted teeth as she glared down at him.

Shikamaru immediately recoiled, his hands coming up to wipe at his eyes feverishly, before he blinked at her in confusion. "What do you need?" He grumbled, one eye sliding shut as he flopped back onto the futon.

"I felt your chakra fluctuating, so I came to heal you while you slept...it is a good thing you are such a sound sleeper." She smiled, a soft laugh escaping her lips as Shikamaru's other eye pried open.

"What time is it?" He asked, his voice still deep from tiredness.

"Almost dawn." She whispered, shifting through the crack of the door, her head the last thing to be removed as she made her way back to her room.

"I should get up then." He sighed, rolling out of the sheets of his futon, and onto his hands and knees, where he crawled over to his bag and unceremoniously grabbed the zipper and began to, rather pathetically, groan as he tried to pry the zipper down. Which he could not do with his numb fingers.

He growled in frustration, picking the zipper up with clumsy fumbling appendages, he brought it to his teeth and pulled, shivering as the vibrations as each notch rattled his teeth.

He finally got the blasted thing open, his fingers groping around the bottom of his bag for his tooth brush, and some decent clothing, which he found rolled up at the bottom corner. He growled when he shook them out, realizing that they were rinkled from hell and back, he through them on the floor and grabbed the bag with one hand, while the other searched frantically around until he found it- a new hair tie.

He sighed in releif as he sat back on his knees, his hands automatically gathering up his things, he tucked them under his arm, and struggled to his feet. His knees crackling and grinding together in protest, his heels creaking as he took each step.

A tuft of Dark, Chocolate brown hair shoved it's way out of Shikamaru's door, followed by the lanky ninja himself. Sporting some very dark green boxers, and a very distinguished farmer's tan, he scurried out of the Guest Chambers, and sneaked into the Men's onsen, smiling to himself when he noticed it was empty. Perfect.

Shikamaru looked over at the water with appreciative eyes, a small sparkle in that dim, forever bored expression as he slid his thumbs under the elastic of his boxers, and pushed them down past his knees, before stepping out of them and folding them on the bench, and hung his dark, forest green towel on the rack, his hands rubbing together anxiously.

--

As Shikamaru lowered himself into the water, he felt all of his senses cut loose, and his back arched involuntarily towards the rocky sides of the Onsen.

Shikamaru took a slow, deep, thoughtful breath as he brought his hands up to his face, frowning down at the expression in his palms, he splashed the water onto his face with a groan, his toes flexing as he laid his head against the side of the hot spring bath.

Oh yes, Shikamaru could definitely do this more often.

Psh, like he had time.

Shikamaru scoffed as he abruptly sat up, then dunked his whole head under the steaming water, his eyes screwed shut so tightly that he thought they might fall back into his head, he emerged from the water, gasping for air as he did so.

He wiped his face repeatedly, his hands coming to rest on his neck as he leaned against the side, his elbows propped up in a lazy manner.

Shikamaru sighed, before standing up abruptly.

"Time to get out...or I will never leave." He told himself quietly as he stood, toweling off his dripping legs , the other smaller, white towel flung over his head.

Shikamaru thought back upon his wake up call with Sakura, why hadn't that alarmed him? He did not know.

How could he not think of Sakura just magically appearing in the night as a strange thing? Shouldn't she have been asleep? Or perhaps at least in her own side of the Guest Wing?

Shikamaru shook his head, not like it matters, He thought drearily as he pulled his pants on, completely disregarding the pair of smelly forest green boxers that hung before him, he cautiously pulled his zipper up- making sure nothing got caught in the metal teeth before pulling a fishnet top on, and re-tying his hitai-ate to his left shoulder, he stretched, fingers curling as he yawned quite loudly.

Time for work, He thought, throwing his towel over his shoulder, and scowling as he slipped out of the door.

His hand was upon the wall immediately, guiding himself back towards his room through the hallway, which actually wasn't as far away as it seemed.

--

He sat in the small chair, the many situations flickering in his mind's eye, all his thoughts being sorted mentally, and filed. He unrolled a red scroll,his fingers brushing over the blank parchment, causing it to ignite, ink suddenly appearing with the help of his chakra.

Shikamaru brought a hand to his face, scanning over the scroll for key words of his mission, while not really absorbing them. He sat back, his head swirling nauseatingly as he pressed the pads of his fingers against his eyelids, breathing out a heavy sigh.

It was all too true that he had been working his tail off, in fact he couldn't even remember a day that he had not had some kind of work to do.

He sighed again, leaning back against his chair, and letting his head fall lifelessly to the side. He wondered how much longer he would have to be here, how much longer Ino, more specifically, would have to stay. He didn't want to have to put up with both her and Temari, especially at the same time.

Shikamaru inwardly groaned at that prospect, his hand slapping down onto his face a tad harder than he had intended, his eyes screwing up so tightly that he began to see colors dance inside of his eyelids.

Suddenly, he stood, his hands dropping the scroll and kicking it towards his bag, as he bent down and grabbed his vest.. It was almost ten already? How long had he sat in the darkness?

Drop by and leave a review for me.

hehe. so......just drop by for the next chappies.