Chapter Nineteen
"Oh Kami everything hurts." I groaned, my eyes still firmly shut after attempting to open them when I first regained consciousness. Pain lanced up my arm as I tried to make a fist and a quiet hiss of pain escaped my mouth.
"Ren?" I heard a normally lackadaisical voice ask tightly. I nodded, my eyes still shut and not quite ready to face the barrage of light that would hit them when I finally opened my eyes.
"Thank you." I heard Shikamaru whisper so quietly I almost didn't hear it. I could hear shuffling that indicated he was moving around and I turned my head towards where I thought he might be when he put an arm on my shoulder.
"Did we win?" I croaked out, licking my dry lips and sighing in relief when I felt Shikamaru putting the water to my lips.
"Against the creepy bone guy, yeah." Shikamaru said, his voice still tight in a way I had never heard it before. I slowly opened my eyes a little, ignoring the jolt of pain behind my eye sockets, so I could see my.. See Shikamaru better.
His face was drawn and haggard, his hair more tousled than normal, and I could see dark bags under his eyes as though he hadn't slept in a few days. He was in his normal clothes, the chunin vest with the Nara clan symbol on the back and a mesh undershirt on underneath it. We were both silent as our eyes roamed one another's forms, mine checking for injuries and his most likely doing the same.
"Sasuke got away." Shikamaru said heavily, breaking the silent moment between us.
"I'm just glad you got away." I replied honestly, frowning when I saw the corners of his mouth tighten into a hard line.
"You should have dodged." Shikamaru muttered, sitting back into the chair next to my bed. "I know why you didn't. You let your emotions cloud your judgement."
"I did what I would do for any teammate." I said, eyes narrowing slightly at the hard edge to his voice.
"You should have trusted me to dodge." Shikamaru snapped back with his fingers balled into fists at his side as he fought to remain calm. Shikamaru was not normally one prone to anger or overly emotional encounters so I felt a little out of my depth as the Nara vented his frustration out. "You almost died! Is that what you wanted? Why were you so reckless?"
"Of course no-" I attempted to protest, only to be drowned out by the other boy.
"You almost died. Choji almost died. Neji, Naruto, Kiba.. God, I almost got us all killed." Shikamaru said, his eyes becoming distinctly misty as he clenched my blanket into a fist. "For what? A failed mission? Sasuke still got away."
"Come on, Shikamaru." I demanded softly, moving over on the bed in order to make room for him before patting the spot next to me. He only hesitated for a moment before clambering into the bed as well and with the additional warmth pressed up against me, we were both sound sleep within the hour, our fingertips just barely intertwined
Shikamaru's POV
Shikamaru stretched languidly when he woke up, feeling his sore shoulder protest at the movement. He felt like he had just taken an amazing nap, something he hadn't had in quite awhile, so he opened his eyes to find out what woke him up.
He almost jumped in surprise when he realised that he was in the hospital laying down in Ren's bed. Said boy was still sleeping peacefully with a small smile playing at the corner of his lips, Shikamaru let his eyes trace the other shinobi's face as he slept, memorizing the curves and the expression.
Ren looked so soft like this. His hair didn't have it's usual braid, there were not feathers in his hair, and the gentle expression on his face in combination with his bed hair made a part of Shikamaru ache in an unfamiliar way. Shikamaru brought his hand up, leaving only a miniscule amount of space between his hand and Ren's skin, tracing the line of his jaw and pushing a stray piece of hair out of the way of his closed eyes.
"You care for him."
Shikamaru flinched, dark brown eyes jerking to the doorway where Kakashi Hatake was leaned against the door watching the two occupants of the bed. They stared at one another, the silence filling up the room like smoke during a fire, neither one willing to be the one to break it. Shikamaru slowly retracted his hand and shifted off the bed, being careful not to jostle Ren in the process.
"I was there the day he was found. She saw something in him, a baby who had been abandoned to survive on his own. Most babies would have been screaming or crying but Ren was so quiet. His eyes saw so much even then." Kakashi said quietly, his voice carrying easily in the small hospital room. Shikamaru listened, his eyes never leaving the copy ninja and his mind racing. "He's a survivor."
"Yeah, he is." Shikamaru agreed, eyes flickering back to the brown haired boy fondly.
"If he's precious to you, let him know and enjoy every moment you have with him." Kakashi advised, a far off look to his eyes. The copy nin didn't wait for a response, with one final look at the two on the bed, he disappeared from the doorway and allowed the door to click shut behind him.
"Mm, Shika?" Ren asked groggily, eyes fluttering open. Shikamaru looked at the other boy as he woke up, a gentle smile on his face as he watched the dazed expression on Ren's face. "Wha's goin' on?"
"Nothing, Ren." Shikamaru replied, standing from where he had been sitting on the edge of the bed. "I need to head home. I was officially supposed to be released an hour ago."
"When do I get to go home?" Ren said, a slight whine to his voice that Shikamaru refused to admit he thought was adorable.
"When I say you can." A female voice said from the door, which was now open to reveal a blond haired and amber eyed woman who was looking between them with the hint of a smirk playing at her lips. Tsunade looked at Shikamaru with raised eyebrows before coming over to the end of the bed and lifting a chart attached to the end, casually flipping through it. "How are you feeling?"
"Really sore, Godaime-san." Ren admitted, watching the Hokage read his chart with wide eyes.
"Tends to happen when you have bones go through various parts of your body." Tsunade replied snarkily, shutting the chart firmly. "Next time don't be there to get hit."
Ren's eyes flickered over to Shikamaru's for a moment, an embarrassed and nervous look on his face that made Shikamaru regret his harsh words earlier. Shikamaru smiled at Ren to convey that he wasn't angry at him and by the way the other leaf nin's shoulders relaxed, he had understood.
"Shikaku was looking for you earlier." Tsunade said pointedly, looking at Shikamaru and then at the door.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered, sighing under his breath. His lips twitched into a small smirk when Ren laughed because of what he had said and it made him feel just a little bit lighter. "I'll come back later."
"I'll probably be here." Ren said, rolling his eyes and huffing dramatically. Shikamaru chuckled lowly when Tsunade cuffed him upside the head.
"You can't hit your patients!" Ren protested as Shikamaru made his way to the door with a full blown smile on his face. Just as he reached the door, Ren called out to him one more time. "Tell Yoshino I said hello!"
Shikamaru threw his hand up to let him know he had heard the other boy and shut the door behind him, shoving his hands in his pockets as he made his way down the hospital hallway.
Ren's POV
The next week was really tough. My body had taken quite a beating and I had intensive physical therapy, which drained a lot more out of me than I thought it would, and so I mostly slept when I wasn't eating or doing the physical therapy exercises.
Akari's parents stopped by to see me and so did Choji, Naruto, and Kiba as well. Shikamaru was pretty much always around unless he was busy and we had quite a few interesting games of Shogi while we waited, such as the one we were playing now. I felt like every time I played Shikamaru I got better, I never used my Sakimonagan unless he asked me too for an additional challenge, but I was having a hard time concentrating today.
I watched Shikamaru as he thought, his eyebrows furrowed and a contemplative look on his face. I loved watching him strategize; his normally half-lidded eyes became sharp and I could practically see the cogs turning in his mind. The way his long fingers moved the Shogi piece and the little satisfied smirk he would get when a strategy pans out just the way he wanted it to.
"It's been your turn for awhile." Shikamaru said, that same smirk on his face present when my eyes jumped to meet his own dark brown ones.
"Sorry, I got lost in thought." I murmured, looking at the board and noting which piece he had just moved while I was busy staring.
"What were you thinking about?" Shikamaru asked
I could feel his eyes on me and I could imagine the way they narrowed slightly, his head cocked a couple of centimeters to the side in a silent question to mimic the tone of voice he used. How well I knew his mannerisms and the weight of his gaze on me made my cheeks flush. I refused to make eye contact with him in my present condition so I pretended to study the board while I answered quietly. "Nothing. Just been lost in thought lately, being cooped up and bored."
"How's the therapy coming along?" Shikamaru asked
"Well enough." I replied, moving to capture one of his pieces with my own but stopping at the last minute when I realized he had been baiting me. I quickly moved a piece instead, looking up at him and smiling when I saw his eyebrow twitch in concealed surprise. "I can get around okay. Tsunade will probably release me in a day or two. I have another couple of weeks before I can train again though, maybe a month or two before a mission."
Shikamaru hummed thoughtfully to himself and we played out the rest of the game in silence. It wasn't long until he had won the game and I rolled my eyes; I hadn't even gotten to set up the tortoise defensive position I had wanted to try from a Shogi strategy book that Yoshino had given me. 'If you're going to be around as much as I think you are, you are going to need this' She had said, smiling beautifully at me. I had been red for several minutes after she left, wondering how I should take her words and what they meant.
"Want to get out of here?" Shikamaru asked casually, slipping his hands into his pants pockets and huffing with laughter when my hand jerked and spilled a few Shogi pieces. We both cleaned them up and I glanced at the door to make sure that it is shut.
"Don't tease me, Nara." I said warningly, feeling hope bubble up inside me at the serious expression on his face.
"No way, that would be too troublesome." Shikamaru said, shrugging his shoulders. "I just thought you might want to get out and maybe grab food that is not from the hospital."
"Yes! Oh god, yes!" I shout whispered, looking around as if Tsunade would pop out of nowhere to put a stop to our potential escape.
"Good." Shikamaru said, smirking. "Because the distraction should be any second now."
"Distract-?" I started to ask, only to be cut off by a loud noise down the hallway. Shikamaru grabbed my hand and tugged me behind him, opening my door and looking both ways before stepping out into the hall.
All the staff and medic-nin's were running down the hall towards a giant blob in the middle of the hallway. I could hear someone yelling in a high pitched tone of voice and loud groans coming from that direction as well. Something about the blob seemed really familiar, I just couldn't-
"Is that Choji?" I whispered as we snuck down the opposite hall, craning my neck backwards to see what was going on.
"And Ino." Shikamaru responded, snickering and then slapping my arm gently when he saw me looking. "Are you a shinobi or what? Stop looking, it's suspicious."
"Sorry." I said sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head. "You have the best friends."
"Yeah, I do." Shikamaru said, the fond look on his face that I know used to decorate mine when I thought of my teammates. Now it was a sharp stab of pain and a grief stricken look, I'm sure.
"Sunshine! Oh I've missed you!" I yelled as we got out the doors without being stopped, throwing my arms out in celebration.
"So dramatic." Shikamaru drawled, walking beside me as I practically skipped along the paved sidewalk.
"Can we get dango?" I asked excitedly, ignoring his comment and bumping his hip with my own playfully.
"Sure." Shikamaru said, shrugging as he spoke.
We walked to the dango stand together and got three sticks, one for Shikamaru and two for myself because it had been far too long. Shikamaru asked what I wanted to do next and I gestured towards the park I liked to go to in order to walk, so we took a walk together and talked about everything. I learned that he met Choji because they wouldn't let the Akimichi play ninja when they were kids so Shikamaru left the game to go hang out with him. I told him about the time that Akari, Rafu and I played a prank on Akari's parents by putting all of their furniture on the roof.
"Wait, you guys did that?" Shikamaru asked, holding his stomach as he laughed while I described how hard it had been to get the bed up on the roof.
"Yeah! The best part was we were supposed to be another three days on a mission, so they had know idea who did it! If it wasn't for Rafu's mom telling them she had enjoyed having Akari and I over, they never would have known." I said, laughing myself as I thought about how mad Akari's parents had been.
"That's great." Shikamaru said, shaking his head from side to side in fond exasperation. It felt good to talk about the good times I had with them, it made the pain a little less harsh.
We continued our walk and I learned a lot about his clan, how it felt to grow up as an heir, and how he felt about the relationship between Yoshino and Shikaku. Shikamaru told me about how Ino was a great friend and that she wasn't as shallow as a lot of people thought - she was just more insecure than she let on. It was her way of protecting herself, only showing people the vapid and surface parts of herself. It made me rethink how I viewed her altogether and I promised myself to get to know her a little better.
We ended up going to the tree and laying down on the grass, watching the clouds drift by as the day dragged on. It is one of the best days I've ever had and it was in this moment that I felt infinite. I was warm in the sun, could feel Shikamaru beside me and encompassing me in his smell, listening to the easy way he breathed, and enjoying myself without a care in the world.
I startled a little when I felt something grab my hand and blushed when I realized it was Shikamaru, intertwining our fingers together, all of the while still with his eyes closed and face leaned towards the sun. Something about the peaceful look on his face, the sun making his tan skin glow, and the way he licked his lips gave me a burst of courage.
"Wha-?" Shikamaru started to ask, his eyes opening and widening just before my lips covered his own.
He responded after a second, moulding his lips to my own as we slowly explored one another. He tasted like berries, dango, and something distinctly Shikamaru. My hands were on either side of his face and one of his hands were on my waist while the other came up to cradle my jaw. I moaned slightly when I felt his tongue probe tentatively into my mouth, eagerly meeting it with my own in order to deepen the kiss.
It was nothing like our last kiss - this one, which started out slow, had a fire to it that I hadn't even realised was missing until now. We kissed until we were both breathing heavily, panting against one another with our foreheads touching and bruised lips only centimeters apart. If I could, I would kiss this man for the rest of my life - forget being a shinobi, I'd die a happy man right now as long as I could keep kissing Shikamaru Nara.
It was a perfect day.
A/N: So this was really fluffy - sorry about the long time between updates! I lost my internet and I still don't have it! I'm at a friends house now! I'm trying to write but I need to get back into the swing of things ;) Thank you for the lovely reviews and hopefully you guys like this fluffy little time filler!
~Rache
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