Forever and Always

Limerence: (n) the state of being completely infatuated with someone.

It would be inaccurate to call Nara Shikamaru's life a success, but considering his circumstances, it was better than he could ever have dared dream for.

His legs had become insubordinate, and he was in a wheelchair at twenty.

The Athletics Club installed a wheelchair ramp, as Asuma insisted that his inability to walk wasn't a valid enough excuse to quit his job.

Mirai was crawling around and visited Shikamaru with her mother everyday.

Much to Kurenai's dismay, her daughter's first words were "troublesome" and "Ugh".

Ino and Chouji took time out of their days to visit their childhood friend, Ino even went to the effort of learning chess for him. She wasn't great, but it was the thought that counted. Chouji would regularly ask Shikamaru for his opinion on new recipes he was experimenting with.

Yoshino quit her job as a hotel receptionist to stay with her son at home as his condition worsened, and Shikaku was given longer breaks in his own job, most of the time he was given was spent playing chess with his only child.

And Temari was Temari.

She walked him home everyday after work and often stayed the night.

She never complained, and neither did he.

On their one year anniversary, she brought him up to his favourite hill.

They had a picnic and watched clouds pass.

He looked at her as she took out little devilled eggs that Yoshino had prepared in advance.

"Temari, I never thought I'd say this to a woman, but I truly believe that I've found my weakness, and it's you."

She slowly raised her head to look at him.

"Take it back." She snapped.

"Wha-Why?" Shikamaru had thought that saying that was a compliment, he'd certainly meant it that way.

"Shikamaru. I don't want to be your weakness." She said, not taking her eyes off of his.

"I want to be your strength. I want you to feel invincible when you're with me, like you're ten feet tall. I want to give you power and joy. Not weakness. I don't want to tear you down. I'm not someone for you to aspire to be, don't live your life staring at my back, and don't lean on me.

"Shikamaru, I want you to see me as your strength. I want you to stand with me, forever and always."

He smiled at her troublesome words and nodded.

"You are my strength, troublesome woman."

"That's better."

She put food on a paper plate for him and poured him some juice into a plastic cup, handing them all over to him on a tray.

It was nice to be out of the chair, seated in the grass on a blanket with a beautifully troublesome woman by his side.

After eating, he lay his head down in her lap as she played with his hair, twirling strands between her fingers and braiding small sections.

They spoke and fell silent and spoke again, enjoying their anniversary.

They knew that they would not have another one.

"You're my strength too, Shika." She said softly after a while. "You always will be."

She leaned down and gently placed a kiss on his lips.

"And I'll stand with you forever."

"Forever and always." He smirked.

"Yeah, forever and always."

He held out his hand and they shook on it before lying down side by side and watching each other instead of the clouds.

He gazed into her teal eyes and couldn't help but smile at the fact that he knew that this woman loved him as much as he loved her.

He was aware that he wouldn't be seeing her for much longer, but that just meant he'd have to make the most of the time he did have with her.

He took her into his arms and held her as tightly as he could manage.

"Forever and always, my troublesome woman."

And she didn't have to tell him that she loved him, but she did anyways, and that made all the difference in his wonderful world.

Because really, it was a wonderful world.

Especially when she was by his side to share it with.

Especially since she had him, and he had her.

And that was joy enough to last a million lifetimes.

And that was enough for him.

He would love her forever and always.

The End

A/N: aaaaahhhhhh I got kinda anxious before posting this. Idk how I did, but yeah! We did it!

I really hope you guys liked this, I poured my heart and soul into this story, and I'll hopefully write a few more stories in this style at a later point, but I hope to focus on my other stories for a while.

I just want to say thank you sososo much for all the support that everyone gave to me during this by PMs, reviewing/ following and favouriting it.

I probably sound like someone accepting an Academy Award rn, but really, I wouldn't have kept on posting if y'all didn't let me know you liked it.

I just really hope I didn't rush the ending. *nervous laughter*

Please let me know what you think, and if you'd like an epilogue o.O.

Again, thankyouthankyouthankyou!

Follow/fave/review etc. If you'd like! Which you do!

~Lee ;)