-Shizuka-:Sorry it took so long...
-Tsukiko-:Sorry about not updating earlier... We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Shikamaru woke to a loud insistent knocking. Groaning he rolled off his bed, landing in an ungraceful heap on the floor. Now more awake, he climbed up and when to answer the door before whoever was at it broke it down.
Opening the door, he was surprised to see Tenten standing there. "What are you doing here? And at this hour?" She walked in pushing Shikamaru out of the way. He followed her as she walked in and sat herself on the couch, gesturing for him to take a seat on the opposite side of it.
"Do best friends need a reason to visit each other? And it's already 10:30 in the morning." Shikamaru sat on the couch, his eyes never leaving her face.
"Normally I sleep another two hours. And with you it's never 'just a visit'. What do you want?" Tenten studied him for a moment before sighing.
"Shika... I know how you feel about Sasuke. You told me over three months ago, but that's not something a best friend ever forgets. What is this everybody is saying about you two dating? Is it true? Why didn't you tell me??"
Shikamaru sighed in frustration. She was asking too many questions. Women were so troublesome. For a while, Shikamaru contemplated telling her the truth. It was not as if he could lie- Tenten would be able to see through him immediately. She had an uncanny way of knowing it whenever Shikamaru was lying. At least she would never tell anyone about his secret. It was one of the things he'd loved about her.
Tenten waited patiently as Shikamaru shuffled his feets. Finally, he met her eyes.
"Well, it's like this..."
Shikamaru blushed and stared at his hands. Impatiently, Tenten clicked her tongue. All she wanted to do was to help her best friend in his time of need. She had known about the feelings Shikamaru had for Sasuke a long time ago.
Tenten finally got fed up with his fidgeting and said "Shikamaru, you know you can trust me with anything. Would you please tell me? Your worrying me!"
Shikamaru took a big breathe and proceeded to tell her absolutely everything. From the kiss at the ramen booth right up to the walk home last night. When he finished he just looked at his knees waiting for her to say something.
She was quiet for a while, just processing all the information. Finally she leaned forward and pulled Shikmaru into a hug.
"What am I suppose to do Ten? I really like him, but he's just doing this to get Sakura off his back!"
"It's alright Shika. It'll all work out, I promise."
"Shik- What the hell are you doing?"
Even before he turned, he could already feel a death glare on his back. Startled, both of them looked at the door to find a very angry Sasuke at the door. Surprise flitted across TenTen's face. Suddenly, she understood everything that had just happened.
"Can't you even keep up the pretense for a little while? Is that so freaking hard?!"
Shikamaru didn't understand what the Uchiha was rambling on about.
"It was just a friendly hug, Sasuke," Tenten explained. "I guess I'll leave you two to settle this yourselves, then. "
As Tenten walked out of the room, Sasuke wondered if he had to apologize. Him. Apologize. Still, he did not want to lose his friend. or did he want Shikamaru to stop posing as his boyfriend. It felt so very natural to be by Shikamaru's side, walking around town. It also felt good to be Shikamaru's friend. Most of all, he still needed kissing practice.
"I...I'm... I'm..."
"Apology accepted," Shikamaru replied softly.
Sasuke wondered when they had become so close. When had Shikamaru learnt to read him so well? When had Sasuke himself felt that Shikamaru was so important? It didn't use to be like this.
Sasuke shook himself out of his thoughts and crossed his arms, looking expectantly at Shikamaru.
"So does Tenten know what going on with us, or what?" Shikamaru nodded.
"She does. I had to tell her, she's my best friend."
Sasuke stayed quit for a minute before sighing and uncrossing his arms.
"Fine. You trust her to not tell anybody?"
"Sasuke, I would trust her with my life. I trust her to keep my… our secret."
"Fine then. She better keep it."
He looked at Shikamaru's eyes for a few moments before huffing and crossing his arms again.
"Well, I'll just go then so you and your best friend can continue talking. I'll talk to you later."
He turned and started heading out the door when Shikamaru quickly stood up and walked over to grab his arm.
"Wait!"
"What?"
"Not that I'm complaining, but why did you come over anyway?"
"Well, we hadn't really talked about any plans for today so I was going to see what you wanted to do...But now that Tenten is here I figure you'll want to spend some time with her and whatever, so... I'm gonna head. I'll talk to you later."
Before he could pull his arm out of Shikamaru's grip however, Ten Ten came back into the room.
"I have an idea! How about the three of us all hang out today?" TenTen asked.
-Tsukiko-: I think our new pieces will be much faster! Please review, thank you!
-Shizuka-:Hope it was good.
