"Shikamaru Nara!" 'Oh, god..' "Care to explain why I found a half naked girl in your bedroom?" Shikamaru just stood in front of his mother, Yoshino Nara, and his father, Shikaku Nara, not sure of what to say. To say the least, he was a bit shocked that his mother had walked in on TenTen changing in his bedroom. Let's back up a bit, shall we...

He and TenTen had made it to his house after about six minutes of walking in complete silence. He liked to think that it was a comfortable silence, but, for him it just wasn't the case. She seemed pretty at ease on the way there, but, he was mentally kicking himself for not trying to start a conversation. It wasn't that he felt weird around her or anything, it's his parents, what would they think? Or say?

"Alright," he said as he lazily looked around his seeminglly empty home, "I guess my parents went out."

"Uhm," she looked him with those eyes, "where's the shower?" 'Oh, yeah...' he remembered, 'that's why she's here...'

"Well, we only have two showers. One in my room and one in my parents' room." he thought about it, 'I guess it's fine if she goes into my bathroom, that way if my parents do show up anytime soon, they won't walk in on her taking a shower.' He turned his attention to her, she looked like she finally felt awkward and nervous. "Come on." She looked at him, confused.

"Wh-why?" 'Is she blushing?'

"You're going to use my shower. It'd be really weird if my father or mother walked in on you taking a shower."

"But, what about you?"

"I told you already that we have two showers. Don't you listen?" he sighed.

"Oh," she hung her head, "I-I wasn't really listening, I guess. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Come on." He led her to his room. Not surpisingly, it was simple, had simple furniture, and wasn't really decorated. What was surprising was the fact that the young Nara kept his room very, very clean. One would've thought that he would be to lazy to clean his room, must've been because his mom made him keep it clean.

"Here." he threw her a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. 'I think those will fit her...'

"Thanks," she walked into the bathroom and came out in about two seconds, "uhm... I need a towel.

"Right," he opened his closet and grabbed a towel that was on the top shelf, "Here."

"Thanks." she went in and closed the door. He could hear her turn on the shower. 'I'd better get in too,' he looked in a nearby mirror and saw dried up mud on his clothes and face, 'yeah, defintely need to get in.' He made his way to his parents' room and proceeded in taking his much needed shower, he came out about 14 minutes later, wearing only a towel around his waist and his hair lose, not tied in it's usual ponytail. 'Shit,' he realized, 'I left my clothes in my room.' He sighed and made his way in front of his door and knocked.

"TenTen?" There was no answer, "TenTen, are you out yet?" He shrugged and came to the conclusion that she was in the shower, so, as quickly as the lazily boy could move, he opened the door and grabbed the clothes he need and began to make his way back to his parents room. But, of course, he hadn't the best luck. The second he closed his door and faced the hallway, he was face to face with his parents. They didn't look to pleased, at least, his mother didn't.

"Hey guys.." he didn't know why he felt the need to run, but he did.

"Son," Shikaku began, "who was it that you had over today?"

"What are you talking about?" 'Why am I acting like I don't know?'

"We just got back from the store about five minutes ago," Yoshino started, "and when I opened your bedroom door to get you, the only thing I saw was a girl with long, wet brown hair putting on one of your shirts."

"Oh, that was TenTen." he stated calmly, not trying to explain further, he was only wearing a towel and started to get cold, he just wanted to put his clothes on, but, when he tried walking around them, Yoshino stopped him.
-

"Shikamaru Nara!" she raised her voice, "Care to explain why I found a half naked girl in your bedroom?" Then it dawned on him.

"Wait," he looked around curiously, "where is she?"

"She left. Said to tell you thank you and that she'll see you around." smiled Shikaku, he had that 'I-am-so-proud-of-you-son-you-finally-did-it' look on his face. His mother on the other hand had that 'I-swear-if-your-excuse-isn't-a-good-one-I-will-kill-you' look.

"Explain!"

"Oh, right. Well, I was walking back home then it started raining. I bumped into her and she fell in the mud and asked if she could take a shower here, said her place was to far, I said sure." he informed his mother, who seemed to have calmed down, it was probably due to the fact that her lazy son did something as gentlemen like as to allow a girl to take a shower in his room and not try to rape her.

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

"Well, then," she looked right at him and smiled, "you'd better be telling the truth, mister. Or, you'll be grounded." He smirked.

"I'm not a kid anymore."

"Of course you're not," Shikaku wrapped his arm around Shikamaru's shoulders and pulled him into a tight side hug, that look still on his face and said, "you are a man now!" He simply sighed and went into his room to get dressed. 'How embarassing, my father thinks I...TenTen and I...'

"Hey!" he jumped and looked around his room.

"Who's there?"

"It's me," said a familiar voice, "It's TenTen." he sighed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, where are you?" he was still looking around a bit frantically searching for the voice, looking for her.

"Outside the window." he turned to face the window, and there she was. Her hair was damp and the shirt she was wearing was a bit to large, but, in his eyes, she looked amazing. Especially with her hair down.

"You can come in, if you want. It's still somewhat raining outside." he told her, not realizing that all he had managed to put on, before she showed up, were his boxers and a pair of pajama pants.

"Uhm," she thought about it, "Alright." she came in through the window and sat on his bed.

"Did my parents ask you any weird questions before you left?" 'God, I hope not.'

"No," she smiled, "in fact, they just stood there...Like a pair of deer in the headlights." Then, she burst into fits of laughter. 'What's wrong with her?'

"What's so funny?"

"G-get it!" her face was pink from not being able to breathe.

"No."

"Deer! Your clan! DEER!"

"Oh, yeah, I get it. It's not that funny." 'Great, she's into corny jokes.' he sighed as he continued to try and get his hair dry. She stopped laughing and looked at him, he wasn't wearing a shirt and his hair was down. She had to admit, he looked pretty damn good. He turned to face her. "What?"

"OH!" she felt like she was caught trying to throw a child off a ten-story building, "NOTHING!" 'God, she's being loud.' his eyes widened, 'MY PARENTS DON'T KNOW SHE'S IN MY ROOM, DO THEY? WHAT IF THEY WALK IN? THEY'LL THINK I'M A LAIR! SHIT! SHITTY SHIT SHIT! WHAT DO I DO? HOW DO I MAKE HER TELL THEM THAT ALL SHE DID WAS TAKE A SHOWER!'

"Hey," he looked at her, trying to play it cool, "stay for dinner."

"What? No, really, you don't have to invite me. It's fine I-"

"No, really. I want you to tell my parents that...that.." 'Tell them what?'

"That?" she looked at him as he closed his eyes for a second trying to remember what it was that she had to tell his parents.

"Tell them..that..there's nothing going on between you and I." she looked at him confused. "It's just that my parents doubt that you came here to just take a shower. And, my dad...My dad is just being weird about it. But, look, just do it? I don't want them to think that what I told them was a lie."

"What'd you tell them?"

"That you fell in the mud and I agreed to let you wash up here."

"You didn't tell them it was your fault?"

"Technically, no. But, it also wasn't all my fault."

"How!" she raised her voice, "Because of you being mad about a little mud on your face, you put mud in my hair!"

"You started it." he decided to stay calm, he figured that women get mad no matter how you react to them.

"God!" and that's when his mother walked in.

"What's going on in here?" Yoshino asked forcefully. When she realized that there was a girl who was sitting on her son's bed, while said son was standing there without a shirt on, she slowly backed out the door and closed it.

"Great." he sighed, "Look, just stay and tell my parents, please."

"...Fine."

"Thank you."

"Whatever, Nara.." she pouted. 'God, she's so cute.' He went and sat next to her.

"If it makes you feel any better," he looked down, "you look really nice with your hair down." Then, he got up and strolled to his closet and put on a shirt. She sat on his bed, her face was bright pink. "Let's go then." he said as he pulled his hair into his signature style.

"Huh?"

"Into the kitchen. The sooner we explain this incident to my parents the better."

"Oh," she looked at him, "So, am I still eatin-"

"Yeah, I'm sure my mom would enjoy having another female to talk to."

Later that night, though the two teenagers explained what happened, they got a good, long lecture on why it's bad not to have parental supervision in the house. They explained that TenTen really did just want to clean up after Shikamaru piled mud on top her head, which he got yelled at for doing. The entire night his father had a smug look on his face, 'Gee, pops, calm down. She's not my girlfriend.' The four ate their dinners peacefully, not talking very much. Of course, Shikamaru convinced TenTen to leave before his mother had the chance to bring out baby pictures of him.

"Eh, yeah, let's go." he hurriedly pushed her out the door, all she could do was laugh.

"This was fun, Shikamaru." she smiled sweetly.

"Sure." They were both standing outside his house. "So, bye." 'Finally,' he thought proudly, 'I got to say bye!' And, as he turned around to walk inside he felt arms wrap around him in a quick hug. He turned around, and she was already gone. He sighed.

"Shit," he mumbled, "I have to get my clothes back."