Hello everyone! So this will be a very interesting chapter! I would really appreciate to have some feedback on it since I'd like to work on getting better.
I don't think I'll do a disclaimer anymore... it's obvious at this point that I don't own Naruto... right?
Enjoy!
Slowly but surely, they made it to Naruto's place. Of course, with their lateness, they were the last ones to arrive. As they got there, Naruto opened the door and excited, he shouted:
"You two finally came! Ino told me you'd bail out but I'm happy you didn't! Now all my friends are here!"
Shikamaru sighed. "Naruto, you really shouldn't believe everything that Ino says, trust me."
Ignoring his comment, the blonde kid motioned for them to come in. Looking around, they saw plenty of people enjoying themselves and dancing at the loud music. A few minute passed before a white head popped out of the crowd.
"Sora! You're finally here!" shouted Reena excitedly. "Naruto really surpassed himself, didn't he?"
The black hair girl smiled. "Yeah, seems like he did!"
"So what did you do this afternoon?" her friend asked.
"Oh yeah! I followed what you said. I made a training with me and eleven clones. Amazing, right?" Sora said proudly.
"Yeah, it is! I knew you could do it!"
"But then I got a speech from Mr. Lazyass here!" said the girl with a smile while pointing where she thought Shikamaru was still standing.
However, when turning her head to look at the boy, she noticed that he was gone. Looking around swiftly, she couldn't find him anywhere. Spotting Naruto, she went up to him.
"Hey, great party!"
"Thanks!" said the boy, incredibly proud of himself.
"Have you seen Shikamaru?"
"Yeah! He asked me how to get to the roof and I told him to take the stairs at the end of the hallway."
Sora laughed. "Figures. Thanks!"
Naruto smiled slyly which confused the girl. "Oh, you're welcome."
While he left, Sora looked back at her best friend that had followed her.
"What was that about?"
"What was what?" asked Reena confused.
"That face he made! I never saw him do that before."
"Oh..." The white hair girl rolled her eyes. "Well, he started this thing about spying on people, especially those who look like they could make a good couple, and then gossips about it with that face he just made. Sakura and I tried to stop him and explain that it was wrong and unhealthy but eventually Sakura switched side. So I lost my advantage..." she explained discouraged.
"Wait. You mean to say that whatever Ino has is contagious?" asked Sora with a mocking smile.
Both girl laughed at the joke. As if called by the mention of her name, Ino came out of nowhere and wrapped an arm around Sora's neck.
"There you are and you look stunning! That powder really worked its magic on you, huh?"
The black hair girl smiled. "Yeah! Thanks again!"
"Where's Shikamaru anyways?" asked her teammate while looking around.
"Oh Naruto said that he went to his usual hang out spot: the roof."
Ino smiled at the news. "Then what are you doing here? You should join him like you always do!"
Liking the idea of pushing the two blind lovebirds together, Reena jumped in.
"That's an awesome idea! I heard the full moon is amazing tonight. Why not check it out with him?"
Sora looked evilly at her best friend who replied with an innocent smile. Then thinking about the matter, she decided that it would be nice to take some fresh air. There were really a lot of people tonight, more than at Sakura's party quite surprisingly. With a nod she left, leaving the other two girls together. While they watched their friend leave, Choji showed up.
"Hey, what are you two doing?" he asked while eating a plate of what seemed like cake.
"Oh, just chatting!" said Ino happily. Her plan was going well. Sora and Shikamaru were going to spend some, what she hoped to be, romantic time together.
"Cool! Have you seen Shikamaru?"
"Yeah, he's at the usual place. You know, the roof," the blonde girl answered.
"Awesome, I'll go see him!" he said walking in the direction that led to the roof.
At the exact same time, both girls grabbed him by one of his shoulders and pulled him back while shouting:
"No!"
Then realizing what happened, they looked wide eyes at each other. At that moment, they both understood what the other knew.
"No way... You mean, she...?" started Ino.
Reena nodded vigorously her head with a huge smile. For once, she was happy to be in in this kind of secret. Choji looked at the two of them in confusion.
"Shikamaru's right. You women are really hard to get..."
The two girls simply laughed, overjoyed by the fact that what Sora and Shikamaru had for each other was reciprocal.
Going up the stairs, Sora noticed someone standing in the darkness of the hallway leading to an open door that led to the roof.
"Naru...?"
But she was cut off by the boy that jumped on her and covered her mouth.
"Shhh!" he said with a finger covering his own mouth.
When she nodded, he let go of her. Then quietly, he motioned for her to follow him near the opened door. Getting closer, she heard Shikamaru.
"So what was so important that we had to speak quietly?"
"I had something really important to tell you," said another voice which Sora recognized as Temari's.
The girl's heart sunk. Not only was Shikamaru not alone, he was with Temari, out of all people.
"Sure, what is it?" he asked.
"Well..." started Temari but then stopped in hesitation. After a few seconds, she finally said: "it's hard to explain. I think it's better if I show you."
And everything went quiet. Curiosity took over the duo that was hiding on the other side of the opened door. Slowly, they leaned over to look. There, on the roof, they saw Temari and Shikamaru kissing. Sora quickly backed up, covering her mouth. At that precise moment, her heart shattered in many pieces. She closed her eyes, cursing herself mentally about her stupidity. If she hadn't wasted time with Daichi, she maybe would have gotten a chance with the one she had truly loved all this time. Naruto stared at the girl curiously as she turned around and ran away from the scene. All she could think of was how maybe he had never been interested in her anyways.
Sitting on the side with Sakura, and Ino, Reena saw Naruto walk around, clearly confused. She got up and went to see him.
"Hey! Where have you been? You've been missing out on your own party."
"Oh, I was hiding on the roof."
Reena got angry.
"Were you spying on Sora and Shikamaru?"
"Not exactly," answered the boy while scratching his head.
As Sakura and Ino walked closer, Naruto explained:
"I went up there because I was interested by the fact that Shikamaru went up there with Temari..."
"No way!" said Sakura surprised.
"What happened?" asked urgently Ino.
"Well Sora arrived and almost gave my position away but thankfully I stopped her in time. Then we both stayed there to spy on the two on the roof and..." he stopped hesitating.
"And what?" asked the blonde girl sharply.
"Well we saw them kiss. Sora seemed really upset by it and she left..." he continued.
"That damn bastard!" shouted out angrily Ino while walking toward the stairs to go up.
Reena looked urgently at Sakura who nodded in understanding and went after Ino. Better not let her kill her teammate. The white hair girl then stared at the blonde boy.
"What happened after she left?"
"Huh? How do you know there's more?"
"Naruto...you'd be smiling proudly right now if there wasn't more."
"Fine. After Sora left, they finally broke their kiss. Then Shikamaru apologized and told her that he had already feelings for someone else. I left after he said that."
Reena sighed relieved.
"Thanks, I need to go and find Sora. You stay at your party now, okay?"
When her teammate nodded, she turned around and ran outside. Once she was out in the fresh air, she concentrated her chakra to her nose to track down her friend by smell.
Walking in the hallway leading toward the roof, Ino, with Sakura running behind her, crossed Temari at who she looked angrily. However, Temari only answered with a sad smile which Ino didn't notice through her fury. When the two girls reached the roof, they found Shikamaru standing, arms crossed, and looking up at the full moon.
"Shikamaru Nara! How dare you do that!" spat out angrily Ino.
The boy turned around confused.
"Just what are you talking about?"
"You kissed Temari!" the blonde girl replied, spitting out the name.
"Wait, I didn't kiss her. She kissed me!" he tried to defend himself for some unknown reason.
"And what difference does it make?" kept yelling Ino.
"Ino, what the hell do you want?"
"I thought you loved Sora!"
"I do!"
Finally understanding the situation, Sakura, behind them said:
"Oh..."
Shikamaru looked at her.
"Oh what?"
"You're an idiot! That's what!" shouted out Ino.
"Sora saw you kiss Temari..." explained softly Sakura. While her friend was enraged, she could only feel sad for Sora.
Shikamaru froze at the revelation. He then carefully asked:
"What difference does it make to her?"
His question set off Ino even more.
"Oh for the love of god! Stop being stupidly blind! Sora had had this crush on you for the longest time! She loves you Shikamaru! But now she thinks that you're with Temari and you don't give a flying damn about her!"
"But I told Temari that I love someone else," tried to resonate the boy.
"If I understood properly, she left before you did tell her that," said Sakura.
"Shit," was all could mumble the boy in his despair.
Up her favorite hill, in the dark, Sora was quietly sitting in the grass, looking thoughtfully at the lights emitting from Konoha. She felt sad and broken but didn't have the courage to shed any tears. After what happened with Daichi, she no longer saw a reason for why she should cry anymore.
Behind her, Reena appeared at her signature speed.
"There you are," she softly said, knowing how her friend currently felt.
"Hey…" Sora simply mumbled.
The white hair girl sat down quietly beside her friend and watched over Konoha.
"So… I heard what happened," started Reena.
"Okay," simply answered the black hair girl.
"But I think you've missed out on something…" continued her best friend.
"Like what?" the girl asked, clearly discouraged by everything.
"Well… Shikamaru told Temari that he couldn't be with her since he liked someone else."
"Great, now we're one hundred percent sure that he likes someone."
Reena gave an amused look at her best friend who didn't see it as she was too busy ripping little pieces of grass on the ground in front of her. Was she really that blind? Deciding not to reveal the obvious as it was up to the girl to figure it out, the white hair girl went in another direction.
"So what do you plan on doing now?"
Sora looked up and back at Konoha. It was clear that she was trying to make sense of everything that was going on in her head.
"I'm going to concentrate my energy elsewhere," she finally decided.
"Oh?" the white hair girl asked interested.
"Yeah, I'll concentrate on my training from now on. Will you help me?" Sora said, now looking at her friend.
Reena gave her a confused look. "What do you need my help with?"
"We'll I know that you're really good with Genjutsus and I've been working on some on my own time but I need to practice it with someone. With your abilities, I know that you can help me work through it! Beside, you're a jounin!"
With a sigh, Reena lied down on her back, looking up at the stars. After thinking a few minutes of thinking about whether she should encourage this new change of behavior, she decided that becoming stronger can't really hurt.
"I don't have anything plan for tomorrow, so let's go one day at a time. We can meet in the morning. I'll even pick you up if you want but please don't mention how I am a jounin again. I don't like being seen always above of the others around me."
"Deal!" shouted happily Sora. "Pick me up at my place at around nine or ten tomorrow?"
The white hair girl got up on her elbows and looked at her best friend.
"Aren't you staying at Shikamaru's?"
"I am but it's obvious that Daichi won't go after me again, so I decided I'm moving back tomorrow morning."
Reena bit her tongue. She wanted to ask her friend if she had made her decision based on what happened tonight but decided not to ruin her newly found happiness.
And that's it! I'll still be doing weekly updates for a bit but in a few weeks, the updates will become sporadic. Make sure to follow this story in order to know when I post a new chapter!
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