Chapter 5
Ino nervously looked back and forth between Shikamaru and Irma as they just stared, unmoving, at each other. She could've even sworn she heard a cricket. 'Okay this is really, really awkward.'
The water guardian was the first to break the silence. "Hey Shikamaru," she said softly.
In the next second, Irma found herself pressed against Shikamaru, with his arms around her in a tight embrace.
"I can't believe you're back," he mumbled gently.
The brunette shivered as she felt his hot breath by her ear and wondered if it was possible for him to still care about her after so long. She hated admitting it, even to herself, but Irma knew her feelings for him were still there and for that reason she let him hold her for a few brief seconds.
Until she remembered that this was the last thing she should be doing.
Instantly the guardian pushed him away and jumped back a few inches from him. "Shikamaru please don't."
The genius looked at her in confusion, not able to understand her reactions. First she had actually let him embrace her and suddenly she was saying he shouldn't?
Quickly Ino jumped in between them. "Uh Shikamaru why don't we go have that barbecue with Chouji now. I'm sure Irma could use some time alone."
Acting as if she hadn't spoken, Shikamaru walked right past her as he made his way toward Irma, who backed away from him the closer he got. But she had forgotten about the wall. Soon her back was pressed against the wood, with no way of escape.
Irma gulped as the cloud watcher looked down at her with narrowed eyes. "Why are you here?" he asked.
"There's a treaty that Naruto-" The water guardian began.
"I know about the treaty," Shikamaru said, cutting her off. "Naruto already told me, Neji, Sasuke, Kiba, and Lee about it."
Irma made a mental note to beat the living crap out of Naruto later.
"I meant why are you in this flower shop?" He asked again.
"I-I came to see Ino," the guardian replied. 'Crap he makes me so nervous that I actually stutter!' She thought.
It was silent for a few seconds as Shikamaru processed her words. "Why Ino and not someone else?"
Irma straightened her shoulders and looked him square in the eye. "If you're asking why I didn't go to you, it's because I didn't want to see you."
The man's eyes widened slightly with both surprise and hurt. The girl took the opportunity to try and run past him, but he was faster, grabbing her by the arm. Then Shikamaru did something that shocked both Ino and Irma.
He pulled Irma in and kissed her hard on the mouth.
Naturally, the water queen tried to push away, but Shikamaru put one hand on the back of her head and wrapped one arm around her waist to keep her still as he continued to kiss her. In pure desperation, Irma lifted her foot and slammed it onto his as hard as she could. This distracted him long enough that she was able to slip out of his arms and run out the door.
Shikamaru made a move to follow her, but Ino blocked his way. "Ino get out of the way," he cried.
"Forget it Shikamaru!" The blonde cried. "What the heck were thinking grabbing Irma and kissing her like that? What did you expect her to do anyway? Kiss you back as if the past five years never happened?"
"Well what was I supposed to do Ino?" the genius demanded. "Just stand there and let her walk out."
His friend sighed and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "Shikamaru, Irma needs some time to think so just let her be."
The Nara then got an angry look on his face. "You expect me to just leave her alone after I haven't seen her in so long. You know I still care about her Ino and I don't think I can do what you want me to do."
"But you have to," Ino pleaded. "Believe me I want Irma to stay almost as much as you do, but do want it to be willingly or do you want her to be forced to stay?"
There was silence as Shikamaru contemplated her words. Finally he glared at her. "I really hate it when you're right about things like this."
Sasuke was slightly tweaked when he opened his door and found Naruto standing in front of him. "What now?" he asked.
His best friend frowned. "Do you really have to be like that?"
"Fine come in," The Uchiha said with a sigh.
After learning about the guardians from Naruto, all Sasuke wanted was to stay home so he wouldn't have a chance of meeting them. He was pretty sure that Will and Hay Lin weren't going to look for him and there was no way he was taking any chances while they were in the village.
"Do you still have some instant ramen?" The hokage asked, making his way toward the kitchen.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You know I stopped buying that stuff the day you devoured all of it in less than 2 hours."
With an upset childish look on his face, the blonde plopped onto the couch. "Do you have to be such a grouch?"
The dark haired man studied him for several seconds. "Alright, what's wrong this time?"
Just as he was about to answer, a sudden thought crossed Naruto's mind and he smirked. "Nothing's wrong. Actually a few minutes ago I ran into Will."
Every muscle in Sasuke's body tensed, but Naruto kept going as if he hadn't noticed. "We even talked for a few minutes and just before she left she started talking about you."
"She did?" the Uchiha asked in slight disbelief.
"Would I lie to you?" the loud mouth asked. He started up again before Sasuke could retort. "Anyways she said that she wanted to talk with you."
"Why would she want to do that?" Sasuke asked.
"She said she wanted to clear the air with you, but I think the real reason is because she missed you so much," Naruto said with a confident nod. "She should be at her old apartment if you want to see her."
"Well I don't see the need to talk with her," his friend replied.
The blonde grinned. He knew Sasuke's aloof attitude would've fooled anybody else, but he knew the man well enough to see that his little comment about Will had grabbed Sasuke's interest. With any luck it would eventually drive the Uchiha to go looking for Will.
'I know those two are gonna hate me for meddling with their love lives at first, but after this whole thing is resolved they will be singing my praises!' The hokage thought with pure confidence.
Back at the apartments, Cornelia shook her head as she listened to Will and Elyon. She'd run into them while she'd been looking for Irma, and they'd decided to go back to the apartments. On the way her friends has explained about their encounters with Naruto and Kiba. Hay Lin had already been there with Taranee and they all listened in disbelief to what their friends said.
"I can't believe you two right now. What the heck were you thinking?" The tall blonde demanded.
"Yeah I thought the plan was to lie low and not let anybody see us," Taranee said.
"Yeah I managed to do that more then you guys did," Hay Lin cried.
"Okay in my defense the rest of you have already seen and talked with Naruto. Besides I only asked him about my parents. If it helps I told him that we didn't belong here and that we wanted to go home," Will said.
"Yeah well, Naruto is going to have to watch his back from now on," Elyon scowled.
"And why is that?" the keeper asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The jerk told the other guys that we couldn't leave till he signed the freaking treaty," the queen explained.
The earth guardian instantly began to walk towards the door. "If you guys will excuse me I need to go make good on my threat to beat Naruto to pulp."
Just as she was reaching for the handle, the door swung open and Irma flew into the apartment, slammed the door behind her, and leaned against it panting.
"Whoa, what the heck happened to you?" The air guardian asked her best friend.
"Yeah and where the heck have you been Irma?" Will demanded. "Cornelia, Elyon and I were out looking for you everywhere."
Irma sighed. "You guys are gonna kill me, but I went to see Ino."
Will face palmed. "Why, why do you do things on impulse like that?"
"I just wanted to see how she was doing. We talked for a few minutes before…" she trailed off biting her lip.
"Before what?" Cornelia asked.
"Before Shikamaru walked in," Irma finished.
"So what happened?" Taranee asked.
The water guardian bit her lip before continuing. "We just stared at each other for a while, but then he hugged me."
"What did you do?" Hay Lin asked, leaning in a little closer.
"After a few seconds I unfroze and pushed him back. Ino tried to help me get out of there, but Shikamaru cornered me. I tried to run past him, but he grabbed me and then he…he kissed me," she finished in a soft voice.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
Irma looked up to see all her friends staring at her with eyes the sizes of dinner plates with their mouths hanging open.
Elyon was the first to recover. "What exactly did you do?"
"Slammed my foot on his then got the freak out of there. Thankfully Ino held him off so I could get back here."
"Wow you're scenario is probably the most exciting on so far," Cornelia said.
"Oh you have no idea," the brunette mumbled.
Hay Lin narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Did anything else happen while you there?"
"No, nothing else," Irma said. In her mind she added, 'Except for, oh I don't know, me realizing that I still have feelings for Shikamaru.'
'Oh that's lovely,' Taranee's sarcastic voice said.
'Ah Taranee!' The water guardian screamed back. 'I can't believe you were snooping around my head! Why would you do that?'
'Because I knew something else had happened that you didn't want anyone else to know,' the fire guardian replied. 'Don't worry I won't tell the others.'
'Thanks,' Irma said with a grateful smile. 'Now will you please stop reading my mind?'
The dark skinned girl smirked, but nodded. Again Irma was grateful because now she could let her thoughts wander without her friends knowing what about. Her lips were still tingling from Shikamaru's kiss, a further affirmation that she could very easily turn to putty in his hands.
'No never again!' She thought. 'I have to stay focused on this mission. I won't let my feelings get in the way. I won't let Shikamaru in again!'
Deep down though, Irma knew that she was just lying to herself.
END OF CHAPTER
W.I.T.C.H. fan: Yeah kind of a short chapter, but it's what I got so yeah. Also a little heads up guys, I'll be gone for about two weeks on vacation with my family (Sea World and Disneyland baby!) so it'll be a while before I update. I will be working on the chapters while I'm away so no worries there. R AND R!