So, for some strange reason, I started writing more for this story and I ended up writing a LOT. Thus, like ANBU's life, I will be doing weekly updates!

Thanks lovinurbuks (did I write it properly?) for the review. I sure was happy to make a double update which led me to the weekly updates that I mentioned earlier. Nice, eh?

Onward!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I very damn well own this fanfic ;)

When she woke up this morning, Sora felt empty. She felt like a ghost roaming around her own house as she look at all the mess which she had no energy to pick up. The only thing she did feel like doing was perhaps draw. On her way to the living room, she noticed a paper on the ground in front of the front door. Picking it up, she saw a really crappy drawing on a paper. At the bottom, she could read:

Sora,

I had to leave really early for a mission today and didn't want to wake you up. I just want you to know how sorry I am about yesterday but if it makes you feel better, Shikamaru and I are okay now.

Reena

P.S.: if you can't guess what the drawing is, then just forget it. My drawing talents are embarrassing compared to yours!

The girl kept staring at the picture but really couldn't figure out what it was. This kind of note would have normally made her laugh but not today.

Sora knew that what she was doing seemed stupid to others. Hell, it seemed stupid to herself. Although she couldn't explain it, she was hurting deeply on many levels. So when, this morning, Asuma had come by to knock on her door, she hadn't been very receptive. It just felt wrong to her to impose her presence on anyone anymore. She wasn't sure what she was going to do but right now, it just seemed wrong to go outside. Acting like she doesn't exist gave her some kind of comfort.

Around noon, Shikamaru reached the girl's house. He didn't want to come too early as she might still be sleeping but turns out that someone else came earlier. Walking closer to the house, the boy saw his sensei in front of the door.

"Sora, are you thinking about them? I know it's that time of the year…" the man said softly. But he was only rewarded with silence.

Seeing his student walking closer, he decided to change subject.

"Just promise me that you're at least eating?" Still no answer.

Asuma signed. Frustrated, he took out a cigarette and lit it up, thoughtful.

"She's still inside?" the boy asked.

"Yes…" his sensei answered, still frustrated, as he continued to smoke.

Shikamaru walked up to the door and knocked.

"Sora? I'm back like I promised."

"Go away," the two heard from outside.

Asuma started to cough in surprise. When he managed to breath normally again, he stared at the boy in wonder.

"That's already better than what I got," he told him.

"Well, it's not what I would have liked," frowned Shikamaru.

His sensei grew even more thoughtful. Then with a smile, he patted his shoulder and before walking away said:

"Well, better leave things up to you!"

The student watched the man walk away. Unsure what to do, he turned back to the door and said:

"I'm going to sit here outside. If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me."

Rewarded with silence once more, Shikamaru sat down with his back against the house's wall. Looking up at the blue sky, he wondered: Just what am I doing?

So, sure Sora had asked for company but she wasn't thinking of Shikamaru when she had wished it. She was thinking more about her family. Now, not only did she feel like a burden for everyone, she felt even worse about Shikamaru. Turns out that he came back the next day and the day after, still waiting for her to come out.

She opened slightly a curtain and looked outside. There, as promised, the boy was sitting in front of her house, his back against the house, sleeping. Ironically, it was exhausting for him to spend his days there doing nothing. Closing the curtain again, Sora had an idea. Walking in her kitchen, she looked around for what she had. Although she wasn't hungry and hadn't really eaten for the last few days, she still found enough stuff to make something decent.

After finishing what she hoped to be a delicious sandwich, she walked toward the front door. On her way, she stopped and checked once more through the window to make sure that Shikamaru was still sleeping. After confirming so, she took a small paper, scribbled on it quickly, slipped the note on the plate, and very slowly and quietly opened the front door.

Waking up, Shikamaru looked up at the sky to see how long he had slept. He was afraid that he would have missed something but then realized where he was. Sitting there all day was really getting to him. Stretching out, he noticed something on the ground beside him. There, beside him, was a plate with a sandwich which made him smile. He also saw a small paper on it. He took a look at it and read: Please go home.

As if she would see this as an answer, he crumbled the paper. At first, he had stayed there because he felt bad. Guilt had driven him to come back. Now, he was worried. It had been a couple of days and Sora still hadn't come out of her house.

Taking a bite in the sandwich, his stomach growled happily; turns out he was hungry. His mind soon travelled somewhere else. Going through all kind of things, his mind decided to start reflecting back on all his time he spent with his team. He didn't notice the sudden appearance of his father in front of him. Still munching on his sandwich, Shikamaru actually jumped when his dad finally spoke to him.

"Still here?"

Recovering from his shock, the boy looked up at his dad and asked: "What are you doing here?"

"Well, Choji came by today looking for you but you weren't home since you were sitting here."

"Just following your advice dad…" he said, rubbing his face.

"Choji wanted to know what you were planning on doing tomorrow," continued his dad as if his son hadn't said anything.

Shikamaru stretched once more. Sitting all day was making him sore.

"Probably come back here."

"On your birthday?"

The boy blinked. Mentally, he started calculating in his head how many days he's been here. His dad was right. Tomorrow was his birthday. His analytic mind started working automatically.

"Heh, it sure is," he answered with a smile, a plan slowly forming in his mind.

Seeing his son's mind at work, his dad smiled knowing that he had found a solution.

The next day, he walked up to the house and knocked on the door like he did every morning.

"Hey, it's me," he said without waiting for an answer.

"I still don't want to see anyone," Sora said near the door.

"You won't let me see you even on my birthday? I feel kind of hurt," he said while faking to be offended.

A silence followed and Shikamaru smiled, knowing that she was thinking. A few more minutes passed, before he heard a light click from the door. When it opened, Sora was standing there looking awfully… well, like crap. Without saying a thing or even looking at him, she moved sideways to let him in. Walking in, he looked around to see the same old mess ruling the place.

"Happy birthday…" she said in almost a whisper as she closed the door.

"Thanks. How are you feeling?" he asked looking down at her.

"Really good," she answered still looking away.

He sighed and walked toward the living room. Finding a cleaned sofa, he sat down and asked:

"Sora, how are you really doing?"

She followed him slowly. Walking in the living room, she avoided his question and asked another one.

"Why are you wasting a day like today here?"

"Because I was worried for you."

As soon as he had answered, he noticed her expression becoming sadder. His answer had made her feel bad and more like a burden. Seeing this, Shikamaru took a deep breath and said:

"And because nothing else would make me happier than spend the day with you."

Sora looked up surprised. She definitely hadn't expected that kind of answer. Seeing her struggle with what to say, he added while rubbing his neck:

"So want to go eat ramen and then hang around?"

"Um… sure. I… just need to take a shower and get dress in something more, well, presentable."

He smiled. "I'll wait here."

She almost ran out of the living room to go get ready. Once she was out, he let out his breath, realizing that he had been holding it in. Not sure what to do, he started to look at the drawings on the table in front of him. They were really nice drawing, mostly of nature and, not so surprisingly, dragonflies. There were also writings on some of them, most of them looking like quotes but the author wasn't written.

When Sora came back in the living room, he was looking at one of the few pictures that had colour: a blue dragonfly. Looking up, he saw the girl wearing some of her usual clothing but she looked really nice to him. Not sure if he should complement her, he decided to talk about his drawings instead:

"You really have a great talent in drawing. Where do you get your quotes?"

"Oh… I just imagine most of them," she half lied.

He decided not to push any further, almost afraid of scaring her away. He quickly got up and said:

"Ready to go?"

"Sure!" she said with a half-smile.

She looked exhausted but there was at least a bit more energy on her face. They walked out, closed the door and started walking away.

"Hey, don't you need to lock your door?" he asked.

"Oh yeah!" she remembered. She quickly got back to the door, took out a key from her pouch, and locked the door. "Now, we're ready to go!"

Side by side, just like they always have, they walked silently all the way to the village.

The day had been a good day. Once they reached town, they went to eat ramen for lunch. Gradually, Shikamaru had managed to bring Sora out of her bubble. As they continued talking, it progressively felt just like it always had: the two of them just hanging out and relaxing.

When they were done eating, the girl had insisted on paying for his lunch. He resisted at first but seeing how happy it would make her, he finally gave in. Afterwards, while walking around, they started wondering about what to do. They boy suddenly had an idea and told her to follow him. A bit later, they had reached the hill where Shikamaru had met Reena a few days later. Sora seemed surprised by his idea.

"Well, I realized a few days ago how relaxing this place really was and since you used to invite me here all the time… that's where I got my idea," he said while rubbing the back of his neck.

She smiled. "I'm glad you do. Doesn't beat your usual spot though, right?"

"Actually…" he started. He took the time to lie down on his back and looked up at the clear blue sky. "I might actually have taken a liking in this place."

Sora sat down beside him. "You? Changing your preferences? Never thought I'd see that one day!" She laughed lightly.

Hearing her laugh made him feel better. All the remaining worry he had felt these last few days flew away at that moment. He closed his eyes in content and heard noise beside him. Opening one eye, he saw the girl had lied down beside him on the ground and was looking up at the sky like he had. Closing his eye again, he savored the moment.

When it was starting to be dark outside, the two decided that it would be time to go back to the center of the village. Reaching the village, they started to walk aimlessly. Still talking about random things, the girl heard something that made her stop.

"Out of techniques? Come and get new ones here!"

The girl spun around, recognizing all too well that line. There, on the side of the road, the same scroll merchant was selling his fake scrolls.

"Sora? What's wrong?"

Looking back at Shikamaru, she opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted.

"Shikamaru! Shikamaru!"

They turned around and saw Choji running toward them.

"There you are! With Sora too! So glad to see you again!"

The girl smiled sadly, remembering these last few days. Seeing her expression sadden, Shikamaru looked at his friend and tried to change the subject.

"What's up Choji?"

"Oh yeah! You have to follow me. I have something really awesome to show you!"

"What is it?" the black hair boy asked again.

"It's too amazing to explain it. You really need to see it. Come on!" Choji said while walking away in the direction he came from.

Shikamaru looked at Sora to see what she thought about it. She looked him and shook her shoulder, showing him that she was as clueless as him. Running after their friend who had already left without waiting for them, they didn't notice the scroll merchant studying carefully the young girl with a dragonfly symbol on the back of her shirt.

They ended up following their friend until they reached a restaurant.

"Food? That's your amazing thing Choji?" asked Shikamaru, unimpressed.

The boy laughed embarrassed and scratched his head.

"You'll see why I was so excited once you'll be inside!"

"Fine…" gave in the boy.

When Shikamaru walked in, Choji winked at Sora before they followed their friend in. That's when she knew that something was up. Once inside, they heard:

"Happy birthday!"

Further on the left, they saw Asuma and Ino sitting at a table with huge smiles on their face. Shikamaru chuckled.

"That's why Choji was being weird," he said.

"Damn it, Choji! You said he wouldn't expect anything!" shouted out Ino.

"Hey! He didn't say he expected it! Beside, look who else I found!" the brown hair boy said while giving a little push to Sora.

Asuma's smile grew even bigger.

"Sora! It's so nice to see you out and alive!"

The girl grew uncomfortable but still made an effort to smile.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"Don't be, come on. Sit down with us!" her sensei said.

She didn't need to be told twice. Sitting down with her team, she watched them as they gave their gifts to Shikamaru. It made her feel even more uncomfortable as she realized that after spending a whole day with him, she had forgotten to buy him a gift.

After the gift opening session, the waiter arrived with their suppers. Shikamaru noticed Sora's sad expression. Making sure the others were distracted, he leaned close to her and whispered:

"Don't be sad. Coming out of your house and spending the day with me was enough of a gift to me."

She looked up at him to see him smiling and she reflected it.

"Thanks," she mouthed.

He nodded quickly and turned back to face his plate. Together, the team started talking about possibly getting another mission soon seeing how long it has been since the last one they had. Asuma took the opportunity to joke about creating another hard-core training for the team if they were too bored. He got several ugly looks as an answer which made him laugh out loud.

After the supper, everyone went their own separate way except for Shikamaru and Sora. Although the girl had insisted that the boy, with his arms full of gifts, should go back to his house, he decided to ignore her complaints and walk her back home, making up an excuse about how dangerous it was in the dark. She, of course, told him that she was a ninja, a chuunin nonetheless, but he ignored her again.

As they reached her house, they stopped in front of her house. Facing an awkward silence, Shikamaru spoke first:

"Promise me you won't go back to locking yourself in?"

She smiled. "I'll try."

"Well, I guess I should warn you that I will ask Choji to run down the door if I discover that you are," he said with a sly smile.

She laughed lightly. They then fell back in silence. Sora looked up at the starry sky.

"Great view, isn't it?"

The boy looked up and replied: "Yeah."

While he was distracted, Sora took the opportunity to get closer. She kissed him lightly on the cheek which surprised him. As he looked down into her eyes, she smiled and said:

"Thanks Shikamaru for what you did."

And without leaving him any time to respond, she grabbed her keys, unlocked the door, and went in her house. Just before closing the door, she told him:

"Good night!"

But the boy was still too surprised to answer quickly enough. When she closed the door, she put her back against the door with her hands by her side, thinking about what she just did. Squeezing her eyes shut, she thought: What the hell was I thinking?

Here you go guys! Lots of fluff.

I'm debating whether I should change the rating on this story from a T to an M. What are you thoughts? Also, aren't things going oh so smoothly? Could it be that something is coming? Dun dun dun! If you want to share your thoughts, feel free to do so in a review!

As per usual : share the love, write a review! Favs and reviews are good motivators. I'll be waiting impatiently until next Monday to know what you guys think!