Hi lovelies! Hope your summer is going well! I feel like this update will start to spur things into motion :D I had fun writing this one! Enjoy!

Sakura didn't like this.

"Sakura, you're here." He drawled in her ear in a whisper, making her stomach blossom with butterflies.

"Shut up, Shika." She replied as forcefully as she could, ignoring how he buried his face into her shoulder.

Her pink cheeks said otherwise.

Sakura wanted to ignore it, push away all these tingly sensations that had exploded as soon as Shikamaru approached her.

But he was just too close right now.

To catch her breath from not breathing in that moment, Sakura placed her hands on Shikamaru's shoulders and pushed him off her, holding him at arm's length.

It was the dead of night, the moon was out, and on any normal day Sakura would have been asleep or comfortable at home reading a book. Instead she was called out by Chouji to come pick up Shikamaru from a little get together they had today. Because Shikamaru was her friend, Sakura out of the goodness of her heart, pulled herself out of her blanket cocoon and braved the night not knowing what was to come.

Of course, what she had to face was a piss drunk Shikamaru. And she had never seen Shikamaru intoxicated before. She didn't think anyone had.

And before she could ask Chouji how this could happen, he gave her a slight bow, a quick "thanks Sakura, goodnight!" and shut the door.

So now she was faced with a predicament she wasn't sure how to deal with. For now, she thought that getting him home would be the best option at this point. With her arms outstretched to his shoulders, she furrowed her brow as she slightly shook him.

"Shika, are you okay? Can you walk?" Sakura asked as she gauged for a reaction. She glanced down at his feet, seeing that he was holding himself up fine.

"…of course, I can Sakura."

At the sudden seriousness of Shikamaru's voice, her head snapped up to meet his brown eyed gaze. His stare seemed to pierce straight through her, leaving her speechless. And he remained like that for a moment – right when she was about to ask if he was alright – when his lips stretched into a smile and he practically collapsed on himself chuckling. Before he could hit the ground, Sakura caught him in her arms, the movement resulting in her shifting closer to him.

Which was the opposite of what she wanted.

Now that her face was as close to Shikamaru's as it'll probably ever be, Sakura caught the length of his eyelashes as well as the sharp bridge of his nose. Before she could stop herself, her gaze trailed down to his jawline noting how sharp it was. And just as she was about to glance at his lips, a warm hand suddenly cupped her cheek, making her stiffen.

"Sakura~ You came all this way to see me?" Shikamaru softly said as his bleary grateful gaze clashed with her startled one.

Sakura pulled away with a sharp inhale.

He doesn't even seem aware as to what he's doing!

Sakura at this moment wanted to die. Really. The way this lazy strategist was making her want to fall to her knees made her feel almost crazy and she really didn't want to deal with it at two in the morning.

"Okay, Shika. I'm going to pick you up since you can't seem to walk." Sakura said as she steeled herself, trying to shove away the racing of her heart as she picked up the Nara in her arms. His arms laid in his lap as his head leaned against her shoulder and for the moment as she stared down at him she wondered.

Isn't this supposed to be the other way around?!

"Thanks, Sakura…" Shikamaru murmured, his cheeks still a twinge of red from the alcohol.

"Yeah, no problem. Just remind to kill Chouji in the morning." Sakura growled in return as she readjusted her arms around her friend. "When the hell did you get so heavy?"

A soft whisper came from Shikamaru's lips, but it was too quiet that Sakura didn't catch it.

"I'm sorry, what?" She asked as she turned a corner, hoping to Kami that she didn't pass by anyone she knew.

"I was sad I don't get to see you often…" Were the words that was whispered tiredly into her ear.

Almost immediately, Sakura's face warmed to the color of cherries as she started to walk faster towards Shikamaru's house. She wanted him to forget all about this. She wanted him to never find out how much he affected her.

She already knew how she felt about him: warm, confused, and feeling a little bit crazy. But what was she to him? What kind of effect does she have on him?

She'd never want to ask.

As strong as Sakura was, this was the one aspect she could admit she was weak in.

Once she reached Shikamaru's house she wasn't sure what the next step was. Was she supposed to wait for him to sober up? Or was she supposed to leave him plastered on his bed, knocked out?

When she glanced down at Shikamaru, he was already in dream land.

Sighing to herself, she went up to his apartment door and found that it was locked. Setting her friend down, she rummaged through his jacket for his keys in the dark, waiting to hear a jingle of them. When she couldn't find it, Sakura let out a soft huff of frustration, about to break the door down when she heard Shikamaru groan.

"Shika?" she said as she knelt next to him. "Do you know where your keys are?"

"Hm? Oh, here." The Nara sleepily said as he pulled a hand from his pants pocket, revealing his ring of keys.

Taking it from him, Sakura opened the door quietly, hearing it creak open as she stooped down to grab Shikamaru off the ground. "Kami, I can't believe I have to carry you."

"My bad." Came his reply at her shoulder, his voice raspy and tired. He sounded to be sobering up now.

Spotting a couch in the dark, Sakura headed straight for it and gently plopped Shikamaru into it. Taking a seat next to him, Sakura glanced at the a nearby clock she noticed to see that it was nearing three already. "Are you okay now? Do you need any water?"

Shikamaru was slumped on the couch, his hands clasped together in his lap. "No, I'm fine."

Using that as a signal to leave, Sakura was about to stand when a firm soft hand grasped her wrist gently. "Hold on, Sakura." Shikamaru suddenly added, catching her off guard.

"What's up, Shika?" Sakura asked after a moment as she tried to search for his face, only seeing a vague outline of her friend.

Quickly she noticed that they were conversing in the dark. With her wrist in his slender fingers.

"I…I have something to tell you."

Sakura couldn't breathe. She felt Shikamaru's grip squeeze her wrist slightly. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears. She wanted to go home. She wanted to –

"I wasn't drunk."

:) Let me know what you thought! Thanks for reading!