Troublesome Hormones

by naruko75

All Naruto wanted was to have some fun, nothing wrong with that right? Wrong. She never realized that sneaking around with one lazy bastard will come with its own set of consequences, especially when falling in love is the least of her troubles.

10. Chapter 10

Naruto yawned for the hundredth time that day as she filed the unending paper work. Separating the important ones with the so not important, and marking those that needed to be signed. No wonder the old hag made her study all those books about politics and other nonsense everytime. Naruto suspected that Tsunade-baachan needed someone to do her paperwork whenever she couldn't.

Or when she was busy slacking off, Naruto thought dryly. In this case though, the hokage had a plausible excuse for being absent.

The hokage had a meeting with the fire daimyo, so she'd asked Naruto to take care of the paper work in her absence. Normally it's the duty of the hokage's assistant to fill in whenever the hokage wasn't available, but Shizune-nii was sent to Kumo. An incident had occurred, and they needed the best medic. Since the war, the alliances between the hidden villagers had only grown stronger, so strong that they could request the aid of shinobi from individual villages.

Since the hokage was not allowed to leave the village unless it was really important and Sakura who was second to the hokage in terms of medic skills was busy visiting family members that only left Shizune to go.

As the (unofficial) hokage in training, Naruto was left sitting in this huge boring office alone doing the most boring thing ever in the history of being hokage. Filing paper work.

Man, was this boring, Naruto thought releasing another yawn. She vaguely wondered if there was a way to be hokage without the paperwork involved.

A snort resonated in her head. "Then why choose to become hokage?"

Naruto rolled her eyes at the beast residing in her stomach. "I think we've gone through this like a thousand times already. I want to become hokage so that I can protect the people I hold dearest. Plus, that has always been my dream."

"Hmph, whatever." She imagined him rolling his eyes, his tails swishing back and forth. "I think I've already heard that speech a thousand times already."

"Then stop asking me the same thing all the time." Naruto huffed marking another page that needed signing about some pipe leaking in the southern part of the village. They needed a team sent ASAP to fix it, Naruto placed the page in the important category.

"You don't need to be hokage to save your precious people, you can do it as a normal shinobi." The kyuubi pointed out. "Plus, I don't see how you can save anyone if you stay cooped up behind a desk all day."

"I will have you know being hokage plays a major role in saving lives," Naruto felt the need to defend her future job. "Unlike a shinobi, the hokage just does it behind the shadows."

At the doubtful silence that occurred Naruto bristled in offence. "It's true!" She grabbed a page from the stacks that she'd already filed. "Look at this." She said pointing at where it's marked above the page 'B-rank', "this is obviously a request to help someone who's loved one is undoubtedly in danger and the hokage would have to approve the request. As hokage, I would receive lots of requests like this, and it would be my job to find suitable shinobi to conduct the mission. If the mission is successful at the end, then I will be satisfied with myself for making the right choice."

"I see those books that you've been reading hasn't been lost on you since you actually learnt something." The fox snorted but she could hear the pride in his voice.

"Of course I learned something." Naruto shook her head, going back to her work. "I'm serious about being hokage, it has always been my dream and goal." Then inwardly, I'm ready to make sacrifices to reach that goal. Paper work and boring books are not enough to keep me from reaching my goal, believe it!

There was a long silence before she heard the kyuubi muttered softly, almost too softly for her to hear despite being in her mind. "I do believe you kit."

Before Naruto's heart could melt at the statement, something caught her eyes. It was a folder, but unlike the other files this one already had the hokage's seal on it, meaning that it was meant for the hokage's eyes only. That wasn't what caught Naruto's curiosity however, it was the name whom the file belonged to.

Uchiha Sasuke.

Naruto's eyes narrowed at the red stamp that indicated the file to be classified. She hasn't seen her teammate for awhile now, it kind of bothered her because it was partly her fault since she decided to avoid him until she knew what to do about what Sakura told her concerning the Sharingan user.

She turned the folder over, trying to guess at its content. What could it possibly be? She wondered curiously.

Naruto wondered if she could open it and have a quick peek without the hokage knowing. I wonder what Sasuke did again this time. Her curiosity was getting the better of her as she found her fingers tearing the top of the folder.

"You know, that file is classified for a reason. I don't think it's wise to open it." The kyuubi commented in a voice that indicated he didn't particularly care despite his words.

"I will just feign ignorance if anyone ask." Naruto said shrugging, "anyway, as Sasuke's friend and the girl that would become the best future hokage one day, I do have the right to know what's in this file."

"Oh really?" A voice drawled making Naruto jump and turn wide blue eyes to the speaker.

Tsunade stood in front of the door glaring daggers at her with hands on her hips. "What do you think you're doing gaki?"

Naruto's eyes shifted guiltily between the imposing figure at the door and the folder that was still in her hands. She stuttered, "I...uh...um." Naruto panicked as she tried to think of an excuse. "Uhm... Oh! Would you look at that, I had no idea it was classified. Oops, my bad." Naruto laughed nervously scratching the back of her head.

Tsunade looked at the girl whose eyes had widen in feigned innocence. She was not impressed.

Naruto slumped in defeat. "Fine, I got just curious, that's all."

Tsunade walked over to stand in front of the desk crossing her arms in front of her impressive busts. "Ever heard of the saying 'curiosity killed the cat'?"

Naruto scratched the tip of her nose grinning as she leaned back against the chair. "Yeah, but satisfaction brought it back."

The hokage's eyes narrowed. "Brat, what have I told you about sitting on my chair?" She growled a tick forming on her forehead, an indication that she was about to lose her temper.

Naruto paled. "I... I was just warming your sit for you." She quickly stood up wiping the chair, "See, it's not dirty or anything."

Tsunade rolled her eyes, walking over to sit. She sighed once she was seated rubbing her temple tiredly. She looked up to see Naruto standing over her desk and looking at her expectantly. "What?"

Naruto scowled. "What do you mean 'what'? Aren't you going to tell me what's in that file?"

"Oh that," Tsunade said casually with a shrugged taking a stack of files that Naruto had filed to sign them. That was almost too casual, Naruto thought narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "It's just Uchiha's mental evaluation. I just wanted to double check something."

"That's a new seal," Naruto said catching Tsunade's lie. "You didn't use that seal for the yearly mental evaluation which means that's a recent documents."

The hokage sighed leaning back on her, it seemed she'd decided to drop her charade. "I had to conduct a new evaluation."

Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion. "Why? The next evaluation is not until two months away, the only reason you would need an evaluation before the time is..." Naruto's eyes widen in realization and she let out a gasp, "Sasuke hasn't fallen in one his relapse again has he?" After the war Sasuke had struggled to readjust in the village, his mental state had been pretty bad. He wouldn't see anyone during his probation of house arrest, opting to stay alone in his apartment. It had taken Naruto sheer stubbornness to force him out of that state, they had been tears and lots of fighting to get him to stop isolating himself. When the bastard had decided to get out of his funk, she could only be grateful that the rest of the Konoha eleven had been supportive and hadn't made it worse despite their dislike of the last Uchiha. Sasuke had been surprisingly willing about getting professional help to deal with his nightmares and whatever mental issues he had. Weekly appointment with Ibiki and Tsunade was done with minimal grumbling. Naruto didn't know what prompted him to recover but she was relieved for it. That's why the thought of him going back to that state made her heart sink.

Tsunade shook her head breaking Naruto from her panicking thoughts. "Hold your horses, it's nothing serious."

Naruto relaxed slightly but the worried frown was still on her face. "Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing for you to worry about," Tsunade said dismissively, "I just wanted to do another evaluation in case I'd missed something last time, now go fetch me a cup of tea."

"What?" Naruto stumbled, the sudden request throwing her off a bit, "but-"

"No buts, go and hurry up."

"Hey, I'm not your maid!" Naruto scowled crossing her arms in front of her chest, her eyes narrowed, "And since when do you even drink tea?"

Naruto saw the hokage's eye twitched, a slight vein popped on her temple as she signed a corresponding letter, but somehow Naruto knew that it wasn't the letter causing that reaction. If Naruto continued like this she would end up going through that door by means of flying, curtsey of Tsunade's infamous or famous' (depending on who you ask) punch. Any smart person would've high-tailed it out of the room.

"Since somebody decided to snitch on my hidden stash of sake." The hokage said through gritted teeth. "Now I have no choice but to resort to drinking old farts' beverage."

"But you are an old farts," Naruto said carelessly leaning forward on the desk, "but I can't imagine anyone snitching on you, I wonder who's the geniu-"

It took a moment for Naruto to remember that she was the culprit and when she did, she laughed obnoxiously with tears streaming down her eyes not realizing that she was in danger. "Serves you right old hag! I can't believe you thought you could get away with hiding it in the archives room without anyone noticing." She let out another laugh, "I knew you were getting senile, but I didn't know it was that bad. If only-"

But of course Naruto was never known for being smart, in fact, she was well known for always getting herself into trouble. It wasn't a surprise for the staff working in the tower when the next thing they saw was a huge orange ball with blond hair fly from the hokage's office into the wall across from it leaving a huge crack mark when she slid on the floor.

"You insolent, brat! You better return with my tea in five minutes or else you can forget about that mission you wanted!" They heard the hokage shout before the door was closed with a bang. People carried on with what they were doing as if nothing happened.

Naruto groaned, lifting herself from the ground. "Stupid old hag." She grumbled rubbing a bump that was slowly forming on her head.

"To think that you should have learnt by now not to mess with lady hokage." A familiar voice said.

Naruto looked behind to find Ino Yamanaka staring at her with an exasperated yet still amused expression on her face.

Naruto grinned rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly, she shrugged. "It's to keep her on her toes." then her grin turned sly, "though, I suspect that the old hag secretly loves it."

Ino gave her a flat look, "she enjoys beating you to the ground every day?"

Naruto nodded almost seriously, "yep, she likes when I annoy her, and beating me is her way of showing it."

Ino stared at the other blonde wondering whether she was being serious. "Is that really what you think?"

Naruto nodded again and winked, she put her hands behind head and walked casually in the direction of the staff kitchen. "You know how tough love goes."

Ino snorted slightly shaking her head as she followed Naruto. "You're incorrigible."

Naruto only grinned further in response, before sending the other girl a questioning look. "And you? What are you doing here?"

"I came to drop some documents here when I saw you being flunk out of the hokage's office and well," Ino shrugged, "I wanted to greet you and... and you know? apologize."

Naruto's expression was puzzled. "Apologize for what?"

Ino shrugged again avoiding Naruto's eyes as they entered the staff kitchen. There was a few people there, probably taking their break. Some of them nodded in greeting, other than that no one paid them attention. "For the other day at the coffee shop, I feel like I acted a little like a bitch."

Naruto's cheeks redden, she scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. "Oh, it's fine, Ino, I totally forgot about it." She turned around to switch on the kettle, shrugging, "anyways, you shouldn't be apologizing to me."

"Of course I should." Ino insisted coming to stand beside her.

"What I meant was, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. It's Shikamaru." She shook her head when Ino was about to protest, "what you said wasn't very nice, I'm sure what he's going through isn't easy for him to deal with, as his friends we should be supporting him. Dealing with a break up can't be easy, especially breaking up from a relationship of three years," Naruto said somehow lost in thought, she wondered whether his break up was the motive behind him wanting to sleep with her. She found that notion surprisingly unpleasant.

She inwardly frowned, why should it matter what his motivation for having sex with her was, anyway? What matters was that they both enjoyed it. Naruto inwardly grimaced, for some reason that thought sounded twisted. Shaking her head slightly from her thoughts, she focused back on Ino whose expression had turned guilty.

"I can't begin to imagine what he's going through." Naruto said before taking a cup from the cupboard to make the hokage's tea, she should be expecting her tea soon and Naruto didn't want to enrage the old hag further.

Ino slumped as Naruto's words hit her the way that only she can manage to worm her way into people's heart. Sometimes it's easy to forget how insightful Naruto could be, she was always acting like an idiot that people tend to underestimated her.

Ino nodded, sighing, "I know. It's just... he refuses to speak to me and it's frustrating!" she threw her hands up in the air to emphasize her frustration, "I wish he would open up to me and tell me what really happened, I'm his best friend for crying loud!" I bet he managed to tell Chouji everything, she thought with indignation.

Naruto turned incredulous eyes at her friend. "Ino, surely you don't expect Shikamaru to pour his heart out to you or something like that, do you? Because that would just be weird, I mean guys just don't do that. Plus," Naruto shrugged, "maybe he has a good reason for keeping it to himself, he may just have other ways to deal with his break up." She was obviously referring to herself, but Ino didn't need to know that. The day after they'd had sex together (Naruto still can't quite believe it happened) Shikamaru had come at her apartment to tell her that he was sent on a mission (and Naruto was slightly annoyed, partly because she wouldn't see him for awhile and the other part is because the hokage wouldn't give her any mission) and it has been five days since.

"What could be better than talking about your problems? I think talking always helps."

Naruto hummed distractedly, her face scrunch up as she tried to remember how many spoonful of sugar the hokage took in her tea. Shrugging, she put four spoonful. A pause then she shrugged and added another, the hag seemed in the bad mood maybe some sugar will help her loosen up. "I think talking helps too, but what can we do about socially retarded people who'd rather bottle up their emotions than reach out for help?" As she said it, the memory of the Sasuke's file sprang into mind with it a feeling of anxiety. She wondered if Sakura knew anything about it.

Ino nodded in agreement. "I know what you mean. Why can't everyone be as loud and talkative as the two of us, uh?"

They both stared at each other, trying to imagine the whole population of Konoha with their personality, they burst out laughing at the terrible image.

Ino watched as Naruto stirred the tea still snickering.

"Damn!" Ino suddenly said hitting the counter, startling Naruto, luckily the tea didn't spill on her hands.

Naruto turned wide eyes at Ino, wondering what had suddenly gotten into her fellow blonde. "What?"

"Oh man," Ino moaned shaking her head, "I still can't believe they broke up, they made such a great couple!"

Naruto hummed noncommittally, having nothing to say to that. She tried but failed to ignore the feelings of guilt that had formed in her stomach. I wasn't the one that broke them up, she tried to tell herself firmly.

"They were the 'it' couple, we celibate looked up to them! I mean they gave us hope of finding the 'perfect one' one day." Ino said oblivious to her companion's lack of verbal response, she gave a dramatic sigh as she sank on the counter where they'd both been standing.

Nobody was more shocked than Ino when she'd found out that her favourite couple had broken up, she'd felt betrayed even. She couldn't understand how Shikamaru could not be ready for marriage, at nineteen he should already know what he wanted to do with his life, and knowing him the way she did, he was the type of guy that always had his whole life planned out. Ino just couldn't believe that marriage didn't seem to be part of those plans.

If he loved Temari -which she knew he did-marrying Temari shouldn't have been a problem, especially if Temari was on the verge of being forced into an arranged marriage. Shikamaru was known as being lazy, but he'd always been responsible where it mattered. Could it be that there was another reason why he didn't want to marry Temari? From the day that he'd told both her and Chouji about his break up, she'd been watching him and to her opinion Shikamaru didn't seem that bothered about the whole thing. It's like something else had taken precedent from the break up, and had taken his focus. Considering the fact that he hasn't gone to talk things over with Temari yet.

Ino sighed again, she would never understand the minds of men no matter how hard she tried.

Naruto shifted on her foot drawing Ino's attention back to her. "So, did he tell you what he's going to do about it?"

Ino shook her head, "no, but according to the rumours. The Kazekage has forbidden him from ever returning to Suna after Temari returned to their village in tears. They said the hokage is waiting to sign the official documents."

Naruto's expression was puzzled. "Rumours?"

Ino smirked. "Yeah, you haven't heard? People heard about the break up and the whole village is in uproar. The villagers are making up all kind of stuff about what really happened. You must hear some of the things they're saying."

"How did they manage to find out about the break up?" Naruto frowned, "I thought it was only a handful of us that knew about it."

Ino shrugged avoiding her eyes, "maybe they overheard it somewhere."

Naruto's frown deepened before narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "Are you sure it wasn't you that told one of your civilian friends who in turn went to blab?"

Ino shook her head but the lack of eye contact and the slight blush on her cheeks told the opposite thing.

Naruto shook her head, turning to go, she'd already taken too long making this stupid tea, any longer and the old hag would throw her out of her window this time. It may not seem like it but Naruto wasn't a fan of unnecessary pain.

"You're so incorrigible, Ino." Naruto said with a slight fond smile, throwing back the other's words back to her.

Ino scowled crossing her arms under her huge chest. "I didn't tell anybody anything. I was talking about it with Sakura and they just happened to pass by at that moment, there's nothing I could have done about it. "

Naruto gave her an unconvinced, "Uh uh." As they walked back to the office.

"Well?" Ino asked impatiently, "do you want to hear the rumors or not?"

"Well... okay shoot." Naruto had to admit she was a little curious...okay make that very curious. Some of the things that those people come up with were often very hilarious. Naruto still remembered the rumours they made about why the hokage had never married, apparently some thought that she was transgender. Naruto hadn't stopped laughing at the idiocy behind that rumour, the hokage of course hadn't been happy about it and had punished the culprit.

Normally, shinobi weren't allowed to hit civilians due to obvious difference in strength unless, of course, a rule has been broken then a punishment needed to be given. That day though, despite no law having been broken the old hag had found it justifiable to issue a month of community service to the unlucky villager after beating them to a pulp. Apparently Marriage is a touchy subject when it came to the old hag.

"Apparently Temari caught him cheating on her with another girl."

Naruto stopped with her eyes wide, suddenly more interested than before, after all there was always some truth in rumours. "No ways!"

Ino nodded seriously. "Way. With an older woman too."

Naruto wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Shikamaru would never do that."

Ino rolled her, "I know that, but what can you do about the minds of villagers. They have wild imaginations, especially when it comes to shinobi."

Naruto shook her head, she never understood people that made rumours about other people. Don't they have their own lives to worry about instead of spreading gossip all over the place? Still, she had to admit that they were very creative. "What else are they saying?"

"Well, apparently Shikamaru refused to marry Temari because he was already promised to another girl since he was little by the council, and the only reason he'd been dating her was because the hokage had asked him to in order to strengthen the alliance between Suna after the war." Ino replied happy to have found someone interested in her gossips.

"Is it true?"

Ino shook her head, "lady hokage would never do that to one of her subordinate, and the marriage thing is obviously bull. Anyways, these are just speculation from people bored with their own lives."

Naruto suddenly felt guilty for wanting to know all that, she couldn't imagine how it felt to be the subject of gossip. Wait... actually she could, because she used to be the target countless times when she was little, she thought a little darkly, and most times the rumours were very nasty. It wasn't meer speculation when it came to Naruto. Shaking her head from those dark memories, she tried to imagine Shikamaru's reaction at hearing all these rumors. If he hadn't already heard them. "Do you think Shikamaru knows about the rumors?"

Ino snorted, "I will be surprise if he didn't, that guy is such a know it all." She said a little fondly. Despite everything she was glad to have him as her closest friend, they've been through a lot together.

Naruto eyed her fellow blonde with a smile on her face. "I take it you don't believe any of the rumors."

Ino hummed a little thoughtfully. "I believe the rumors had been a little exaggerated." she turned to give Naruto an intense stare, making her freeze on the spot.

Naruto resisted the uge to squirm under the scrutiny of the platinum girl, she felt like avoiding her eyes, but she knew she couldn't or it might make her look guilty. She had to remind herself that Ino didn't know, she couldn't have.

They were both standing in the hallway. Now Naruto understood why Ino was apprenticed to Hibiki. Those piercing blue eyes almost made Naruto want to spill all her secrets. Almost.

"You have to admit," Ino said thoughtfully still staring at her, "it's a little weird that in most of the rumors there's always a third party involved."

Naruto's fingers twitched as she fought the urge to scratch behind her head, Ino noticed the movement. Naruto swallowed, "So? I don't see what that has to do with anything, you said so yourself that those rumors were made up by people bored with their own lives."

Ino nodded finally taking her eyes off Naruto. "Yeah, but I heard that the hokage offered to give him a permission slip so that he could go to Suna and maybe talk things out with Temari, but he refused."

Naruto's brow rose in surprise, it had been a little strange to Naruto that he hadn't gone straight to Temari after the break up, but she wasn't aware that he'd purposefully stalled. Was it because of her? She shook her head at the notion, maybe there was another explanation. He probably just wanted to give Temari some space. "Maybe he's too upset to see her, maybe he needs more time."

Ino was shaking her head as Naruto spoke. "You don't know Shikamaru like I do. If something is bothering him, he would make sure to solve it quickly so that-and I quote him on this-'it would be less troublesome to deal with later on'." Ino's gaze went back to Naruto pinning her into place, again.

Naruto shuddered, she tugged her ponytail nervously. "So what are you saying?"

"I think," Ino said advancing on Naruto causing the other blonde to step back, "either Shikamaru doesn't love Temari enough to go fight for her, or something else caught his interest that he's willing to stall everything else." She narrowed her eyes, "or maybe someone. A woman perhaps." The way she said the word 'woman' she might as well have said snake.

Naruto held the forgotten cup of tea between them, to stop Ino from coming any closer. She could feel a cold sweat running down her back. "Uhm, Ino, you're creeping me out."

Ino stopped advancing but didn't move away. Naruto tried to breathe, to calm her heart. "Y-you're being ridiculous Ino, Shikamaru is not that type of guy."

Liar.

"If he was somehow involved with a girl, why would he keep it a secret?"

Maybe because it's you he's involved with, and if anyone found out you'll both be castrated, either that, or you'll lose your comrades' respect.

Naruto swallowed, willing her inner self to shut up. That is just her guilty conscience talking, she tried to tell herself, what she did with Shikamaru wasn't bad. She had nothing to feel guilty about. Consensual sex between comrades is perfectly normal, nothing to be ashamed of. "So what if there's something else that took precedence in Shikamaru's interest, what makes you think it's a w-woman? For all we know it could be something else, I hear the elders are pushing Shikamaru to take on his father's mantle."

Ino nodded slowly, though her expression was still doubtful. "I suppose." It wasn't a secret, of course Ino knew. The young generation would soon be taking their parent's place, especially the clan heirs. Though some of them didn't need to take that responsibility any time soon, like Ino who doesn't need to take the title of clan head until she was married, but of course she could also choose to stay single and rule her clan by herself like the head of the Inuzuka does. And of course they were others like Naruto whose clan was long dead that unless she decided to revoke it she didn't have that burden on her shoulder. Sakura was a civilian, Kiba didn't really count, his mother was still alive and of course his sister too. Chouji and Shino's fathers were still alive so they were safe for now. Sasuke... Well, Sasuke was Sasuke no one knew what his plans were, and his clan had always been a touchy subject anyways.

Except for Hinata whose clan was grooming her to be a clan head, Shikamaru was the only other one who really needed to be clan head soon. He'd always been ahead of his friends, Ino would have been jealous if she didn't already feel sorry for him. He'd always been the one expected to grow fast since they were young, despite his father giving him leniency on some things.

"You should talk to him, Ino." Naruto said glad that the other girl wasn't in her personal bubble anymore. "It's the only way you're going to know what's going on with him for sure."

Ino shifted guiltily, before letting out a sigh. "I guess you're right."

Naruto nodded approvingly with a smile, glad to have dodged a kunai. Ino may not know anything, but the fact that she'd been about to entertain the idea of Shikamaru involved with another girl was too close for comfort.

Naruto's relief was short-lived however, because a moment later Ino looked up from her downcast expression. "I still think something fishy is going, though."

Before Naruto could say anything, a loud voice boomed.

"NARUTO, WHERE THE HELL IS THAT DAMN TEA!?"

Both Naruto and Ino paled, together, almost simultaneously they glanced at the tea still in Naruto's grip.

Ino looked at her with an apologetic expression on her face as she turned around. "I- I guess I will see you around, Naruto."

Naruto just nodded, not blaming her friend for running away. She would've done the same thing if she didn't know that the hokage will personally hunt her down. Swallowing nervously she made the rest of the way to the office alone.

She opened the door slowly, ready to dodge anything that might be thrown her way.

"How long does it take to make a cup of tea?" The hokage said from behind her desk a heavy scowl etched on her face.

"Ano, I'm sorry." Naruto looked around just to make sure there wasn't a trap waiting for her before walking fully in the office, she deposited the tea on the desk, "Ino sidetracked with her gossip stories."

Tsunade just harrumphed taking the cup from the table, and took a sip from it. A moment later she sputtered the drink on the desk, luckily she'd removed all the documents from the table so nothing was destroyed.

"Brat." Tsunade growled through gritted teeth, "when I said bring me a cup of tea, I meant a hot one not this!" She threw the cup, "and what's up with the sugar? Are you trying to kill me?!"

"Sorry!" Naruto squeaked ducking to avoid the cup that was thrown towards her. "I will go fetch you another one."

"Leave it."

"But-"

Tsunade shook her head. "Just go fetch a mop and clean this mess."

"But-"

"Now."

Naruto sighed in defeat, "fine."

"What crawled up her ass?" Naruto grumbled under her breath as she turned around to comply with the order.

"I heard that."

Naruto paled, as she quickly scurried out the door before any damage could be done to her head.

Tsunade watched the door close, before sinking in her chair with a sigh. She glanced at the file with the Uchiha's name on, rubbing her temple slightly.

"I hope you brats will appreciate what I'm doing for your sakes." She said softly before folding her hands on the table and looking out the window to the faces on the mountain.

...

The whole day was spent with Naruto slaving for the hokage. Naruto was reminded of the reason she'd always hated volunteering at the hokage tower, volunteering at the academy was way better than this, at least there she'd just need to knock a few kids' head whenever they pissed her off. The same couldn't be said here, she couldn't very well knock the hokage's head unless she had a death wish. So all Naruto could do was do as she was asked with minimal complaints, she did of course grumbled some curses when she thought the hokage couldn't hear which of course resulted in more bruises for the blonde. And the old hag still refused to give her a mission!

Naruto grumbled under her breath, as she finally, finally left that place. She rubbed all her sore shoulder and joints as she walked the street of Konoha. "For an old hag, Tsunade-baachan could be such a pushover sometimes."

She winced as her back popped. It was just Naruto's luck that the hokage had been in a bad mood.

Naruto frowned as she tried to think of whatever must've put the hokage in that kind of mood, the only people she could think of that always managed to get under the hag's skin were the council members.

Two specific council members to be exact.

But to Naruto's knowledge the hokage hadn't had any meetings with them. She couldn't imagine any other reason why the hokage would be in such a foul mood though. Shaking her head, she dismissed the thought. It probably isn't anything important, for all Naruto knew the hokage could have lost another gamble, and she knew how much of a sore loser the hokage was.

Instead, she turned her thoughts to the conversation she'd had with Ino. Naruto didn't think Ino really suspected Shikamaru of cheating, but according to her there was a girl involved and Naruto had to wonder if Ino was just saying that; or she found something that might have caused her suspicions. From her insistence it could be. Naruto just hoped there wasn't any proof out there that might incriminate her, having Ino on her trail was not part of Naruto's plans. Not that she had any plans to begin with, she didn't even know what she was doing.

She tried to talk herself to stop whatever she was doing with Shikamaru before it's too late and everything blew up in their faces but to no avail. It seemed that whenever she tried to imagine the many ways this could turn into a disaster, another image surfaced. The images of both of them and the pleasure that night had produced. Against her will, she could feel a blush forming on her cheeks grateful that there wasn't lots of people on the street and the ones that were there, were too busy packing their stall for the end of the day to pay attention to her.

Her memories kept going back to when he'd come to her apartment, she remembered the feeling of surprise and excitement shooting through her at seeing him at her doorstep. The sight of him dressed in standard jounin told her he either came back from a mission or he was going on a mission (she couldn't help the slight disappointment at the latter), still he looked so good that all Naruto wanted to do was get him out it. Weird, uh? Naruto didn't understand the way her hormonal mind worked either.

Luckily, they'd both been on the same page because after the second she'd gave a breathless greeting, he'd grabbed her and kissed her. If it wasn't for the kyuubi who had filtered at the edge of her mind and reminded about the still open door, and the nosy people that were her neighbours, they would have done it right there by the entrance. As it was, Naruto barely had the presence of mind to pull Shikamaru fully in her apartment, unconcerned about the mess they were making as they kissed and groped their way into Narutos' small room.

Bottom line, they only had time for one quick round before he had to go and meet his assigned teammate much to Naruto's disappointment. Which was alleviated when he'd promised to see her first thing when he returned.

Still, she couldn't help the slight worry in her that he would change his mind about their arrangement, while on that mission. She wouldn't blame him. She wasn't exactly girlfriend material with her too curvaceous body and way too big boobs. She wasn't fat, no, not even close to that, but her curves were really pronounced more so compared to her friends. Still it was a big wonder Shikamaru had wanted to sleep with her in first place.

Naruto scowled, stomping into her apartment. Damn Shikamaru for turning her into an insecure person, before him she'd been perfectly fine with the way she looked, well, mostly. Now all she could think about is the reason why he was interested in her.

She stretched her arms letting out a loud yawn as she reached her apartment. She left the light off and walked straight to her room, she'd long since memorized every corners of her apartment, so it was easy for her to navigate her way.

Growling she yanked her top over her head and dropped it on the floor, she didn't even know why she was thinking so much about it, anyways. She didn't want the thing between them to change her. As she kept reminding herself over again, this was just temporary. Sooner or later he would go find Temari and they would patch things up between them, she told herself firmly as she removed her pants. After going through her daily task of removing the bandages that she always wore to bind her chest, she walked to the bathroom to take a well deserved shower, all the while wondering what she would do when that time came.

Whatever, Naruto thought breaking into another yawn as she dried her hair with a towel, she was being ridiculous with all this worrying. She climbed into her bed, pulling up to her chin, she just need to avoid getting attached, and things will work out fine. Right?

With that she closed her eyes and decidedly ignored the doubting voice in her head.

Line break -

For what seemed like the hundredth time Shikamaru had to wonder how he'd been dragged into this. After getting back from his mission he'd gone straight to his apartment to clean himself before going to the hokage tower for the mission report. On his way back he saw Rock-Lee, Kiba and Chouji and they'd somehow convinced him to join them for a drink. Shino had joined them later on followed by Neji who always felt it his duty to keep Lee out of trouble whenever drinking was involved.

Shikamaru inwardly lamented the things he could have been doing instead of watching Kiba embarrass himself with the girls. He took a swing of his beer as he half listened to the conversations going around him, interjecting whenever asked a question.

He watched with half lidded eyes as a girl with a short hair and a dress that barely covered her butt walked past giving him a seductive smile. He frowned in confusion, he looked around him wearily. There were a few other people that were giving him odd looks.

Neiji smirked at him. "You're quite the popular guy, I see."

Shikamaru's frown deepened, "What the hell is going on?"

Everyone around the table avoided his eyes, even Shino seemed to find his drink suddenly interesting despite the fact he hadn't touched it since they got here. Chouji was the only one that hadn't looked away, he gave him a sympathetic smile. And just like that, Shikamaru understood. They knew.

That would explain the odd looks and even glares that he was receiving. Somehow, people had heard their own version of his break up. His break up. He felt his blood freeze at the idea of people talking about his business, interpreting it the way they wanted without any facts.

He glared at his best friend from across the table, "how?"

Chouji held his hands up, "I don't know, I swear! I only found out when my mom asked me whether it was true or not but even then I told her I didn't know anything."

Shikamaru rubbed his forehead tiredly, already knowing who the culprit was. Ino. Of course, it could have easily been Naruto or even Sakura having been the other two people that knew about his break up except for the hokage. But he highly doubted that it was either of them. This reeked of Ino. He loved Ino with all his heart, but he'd never approved of that side of her. The side that always made him wary to open up to her, simply because she liked to blab.

"Relax, dude!" Kiba interjected loudly slapping him on the shoulder, "there's no shame in what you did, breaking up with your girlfriend for another girl is perfectly okay. I would've done the same thing had I been you, especially if the girl is a hot princess like the daimyo's daughter." He winked.

Shikamaru blinked blankly, wondering if he was already drunk as what he heard from Kiba registered in his brain. "What?"

"Yeah, what the hell are you talking about, Kiba?" Tenten said with a frown on her face as she looked at the brown haired boy, "We all know Temari-san broke up with Shikamaru-kun is because he cheated on her." At the last sentence she gave Shikamaru a disgusted glare.

Shikamaru didn't notice the glare as he tried to make sense of what they were talking about.

"You obviously heard wrong," Kiba glared at the weapon mistress, "Shikamaru would never cheat on Temari unless, of course, he had a death wish."

"Yosh!" Lee said suddenly pumped up to join the conversation, "Shikamaru-san is way too youthful to stoop to such disgraceful act!"

"If you must know, ninety nine percent of young kids often do disgraceful things because of hormones," Shino said from his seat, as if he wasn't still young himself and still experiencing hormones.

"Shino, stop being practical about everything," Kiba complained, "Plus, I highly doubt everyone is hormones driven as you say they are."

Shino adjusted his glasses on his nose, everyone got the impression that he was raising his eyebrow, "I believe I said ninety percent of young kids, did I not?" He crossed his arms on the table in front of him, "I believe your version of the story is inaccurate as I heard that it was Temari-san that did the cheating."

And just like that everyone started talking at once, Shikamaru sat emotionless as he heard different version about his break up being discussed by his friends.

"Okay, Enough!" Shikamaru snapped having had enough about the whole thing, he could feel a headache coming on. "What are you guys talking about?"

Everyone blinked at him in surprised as if they'd forgotten he was still sitting there. Thanks a lot guys, he thought sourly.

"Your break up." Kiba supplied helpfully.

Shikamaru glared at him as he fought to keep his anger on a tight leash, "obviously not since y'all decided to jump to your own damn conclusion instead of asking the real facts!" He couldn't help the slight bitterness that tinged his voice though.

Everyone shifted in their seat guiltily as they avoid his eyes.

Shikamaru snorted in disgust shaking his head, he stood up suddenly wanting to be anywhere but here, "Whatever, I'm outta here." He shouldn't even have come here in the first place, he knew it had been a bad idea from the start. Now they've totally ruined his perfectly (lack of) good mood.

"Wait, Shikamaru," Kiba said before he could get five feet from their table, "we're sorry, man, we can't imagine what you're feeling and we were out of line. Please, don't be mad."

Shikamaru studied him for a long moment before shrugging, "I'm not mad, I'm just a little disappointed, that's all." Hurt hut is more like it. "But whatever, I just want to go home now and rest."

Kiba nodded reluctantly, "Okay, but if you need anything don't hesitate to ask, okay?"

I don't need your pity, he wanted to say but that would be too troublesome. So instead he just nodded, he turned back to the table avoiding direct eye contact as he muttered, "later."

Only when he was outside did he allow himself to breathe, glad to have finally left that suffocating place with their speculative glances.

...

"Damn," Kiba said as they watched Shikamaru disappear out the door, "that didn't go too well."

"You think?" Tenten said sarcastically before taking a sip of her drink.

"Yosh!" Lee stood up with a determined expression on his face, "We have offended our precious comrade and for that we need to do a thousand push ups!"

Neji gave him a flat stare, "count me out."

Lee looked scandalized, "but it's for our friend!"

"How is you doing push ups going to help Shikamaru?" Kiba grumbled.

Lee seem to think about it for a second, before his face brightened once more, "then we will have to invite him to join us!" He declared causing Kiba to facepalm.

"I doubt doing push ups will help in any way, Lee," Tenten said patiently already used to her teammates' strange behavior, "What he's feeling is probably beyond physical help."

Neji looked at Chouji who had been silently eating his chips still looking in the direction Shikamaru had disappeared.

"I don't suppose you're going to tell us what really happened, are you?"

Chouji shook his head sadly, "it's not my story to tell."

Kiba sighed loudly, "either way, I just hope he will be okay."

Everyone at the table nodded I agreement.

Chouji smiled, "I'm sure he will be fine, he always figures things out at the end."

"That's true," Tenten said with a smile of her own.

A moment of silence passed before Kiba smacked his hands on the table. "Okay! Who wants another round, I'm paying."

"Yosh!" Lee said cheerfully, "how youthful of you my dear friend!"

Kiba sweat dropped, "I don't know why you're so happy, especially if you're not going to drink with us."

Lee paused, "I'm not?"

Everyone at the table groaned as everything seemed to go back to normal.

Chouji glanced back at the entrance where his best friend had gone to in worry. Despite his words of reassurance, he could feel a feeling of apprehension brewing in him.

...

Shikamaru wasn't the least surprised when instead of going back to his apartment, his feet had automatically brought him here. Somehow, he knew where he'd be going the moment he'd left the bar. But...

He sigh shoving his hands in his pocket, now that he was here. He was starting to have second thoughts. What if she didn't want to see him?

What if she was sleeping?, he thought before mentally smacking himself, of course she was sleeping, you dolt. It was 12 o'clock in the fucking morning, so what, you thought she would still be awake hoping you'd pass by for a little fuck? Get real you asshole, you don't deserve her.

Shikamaru sighed again he looked down the dark street where he came from. He should probably just go home. Yet, he didn't move from his position.

He probably looked like a creep just standing there dressed all in black, luckily all the lights were off around here or he was sure he'd have given some poor folk a heart attack.

Okay, Shikamaru get yourself together, he scolded himself, you either knock or you fuck off.

But before he could make his decision the door opened and there stood Naruto in a large loose shirt, her expression was slightly annoyed.

She blinked rapidly when she saw it was him, her eyebrows rising in surprise. "Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru smiled hesitantly, "Hi,"

Naruto blew strands out of her face in annoyance, "Why are you just standing here like a creep? I thought you were an enemy or something." She grumbled showing him the broom she was holding which Shikamaru hadn't noticed up until now.

He raised and eyebrow, "You were planning to take me out with a broom?"

Naruto scowled putting her free hand on her hip, "I will have you know that a broom is as a good a weapon as a kunai. We're ninjas, we make use of everything."

Shikamaru smiled relieved that he hadn't been asked to leave immediately, "Right."

They stood in silence for a few seconds as they both gave the other a once over. Shikamaru swallowed, despite the darkness around them. He could still make out Naruto's tanned legs. He could feel the air around them shift as he felt himself harden.

From the glint in her eyes he knew she could feel it too.

She stepped back tilting her head back inside her apartment, "Are you coming in?"

As if she needed to ask, Shikamaru was already moving towards her. He made sure to close the door behind him before taking her right there.

He maybe a selfish asshole, but who could blame him when Naruto seemed to strip him off control without any effort.

...

"Fuck!" Shikamaru shouted his release as he thrust one last time into her.

They were both panting heavily as Shikamaru slid off her in a sitting position.

She watched him as he rolled the condom off, before sliding next to her on the bed. She barely remember them coming to her room after they'd had the first round in front of her door.

Shikamaru sighed sliding back into bed next to her. He laid there facing the ceiling.

Naruto's brow furrowed in worry, she'd sense the tension in him the moment she'd opened her door. She suspected the reason he'd come was because something must have happened and he needed comfort. Even during sex, she could sense his desperation, as if he was trying to forget something.

Biting her lips in uncertainty, wondering what to do. Then an idea sprang to mind, hopefully she still remembered how to do it.

Sitting up, she nudged him, "turn over on your back."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow in question.

"Just turn around you will see."

There was a moment of hesitation before he finally obeyed. Naruto wasted no time in climbing on him, her thigh on either side of him as she sat on his back.

"Is this some kind of kinky sex that I don't know about?" Shikamaru teased lightly his head turning slightly to look at her.

"Nope," Naruto said turning his head towards the pillow, his hair was loose splaying on his shoulders. She pushed them towards the pillow too. She started rubbing his back and forth, "I'm massaging you."

"Wait, you don't have t-" Shikamaru was about to stand up but Naruto pushed him back down with more force than was necessary.

"Just stay still," Naruto said in slight annoyance, "you've been tense as a rock the moment you got here, and frankly your performance in bed was lacking as well, so just let me help you."

Shikamaru just muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'troublesome' but settled down.

They fell into silence as Naruto focused on unknotting all the tension in his body. She decided to go with all the techniques that she'd learnt. First she started with the one called effleurage where she used gliding strokes with her palms and fingertips, moving on his shoulders she applied petrissage: Kneading movements with the hands. It wasn't long before she could feel Shikamaru relax under her, a soft sigh escaped him, and she wasn't even halfway done, ah!

"You're pretty good," Shikamaru said breaking the silence, his voice was muffled because of the pillow, "Where did you learn to massage like that?"

Naruto grinned at the praise, feeling pleased despite herself, "it was during my travel with Ero-sennin, the woman he ditched me with when I first had my periods was a retired prostitute and she kinda taught me."

Shikamaru froze at Naruto's disapproving grunt he forced himself to relax, "Ero-sennin? As in Jiraiya the late sennin?"

"yeah," Naruto said sounding a mix between sadness and confusion, "What's wrong?"

"He left you with a prostitute when you just had your periods, what is not wrong about that?" Shikamaru said sounding disgusted at the thought.

"She was retired prostitute!" Naruto defended angrily having stopped her movements, "Plus, she was a good woman."

"I don't doubt it," Shikamaru said dryly, propping himself up he turned to look at her, "I'm just a little repulsed that your sensei would trust you in a care of a hooker the moment you started menstruating. Former or not you could have been taken advantage of!"

Naruto now realized that Shikamaru was just worried about her, it was almost sweet and Naruto couldn't help the small curled up of her lips. Still, she huffed pushing him back on the bed and resuming her task.

"It wasn't bad, the woman was an old 'friend' of the old man who had quit her profession years ago the moment she'd gotten pregnant, deciding to live a clean life since then," Naruto said as she started tapping up and down on his back, "And it's not like he left me there for months, just the first two months I had my period." The old pervert had wanted her to learn how to take care of herself as a teenager since Naruto had never had a woman figure to teach her. She could still remember with some amusement the fright she'd had thinking that the Kyuubi had somehow found a way to break a seal and she was bleeding to death. She'd run to Jiraiya as quick as she could towards the bathhouse where he'd been peeping and had shouted loudly: "The Kyuubi is breaking out and we're all going to die!" She'd given her sensei and the women that had heard her a fright.

It was only after Jiraira had made sure that the Kyuubi wasn't breaking out and had managed to calm Naruto down somewhat that he'd seen the blood soaking Naruto's pants. His face had turned such a bright red color that had rivaled the blood. He'd only snapped a quick "pack your bags we're leaving" before whisking a perplexed Naruto off to the gentle lady named keimei.

Naruto chuckled lightly at the memory, she heard a soft snort in her head signaling the demon's amusement.

Apparently Shikamaru was satisfied with what she said because he relaxed again.

"So she taught you how to massage?" He asked after a moment, "Why?"

Naruto shrugged even though she knew he couldn't see it, "like I said she's a former prostitute, her idea of growing up probably meant that I would be servicing boys on my bed naked by giving them hot massages. Which by the way she was right." She gave a slight thrust of her hip as a joke.

"Well, I'm glad she taught it to you then," he let out a soft moan of appreciation as she kneaded him at a particular spot.

Naruto chuckled slightly. She continued her actions for a little while with Shikamaru's low moan or grunt the only sound. At least he didn't seem so stressed anymore, Naruto thought, she bit her lips wondering whether she should ask him now. What if it was something to do with Temari? Did she want to know? What if he never wanted to come back if she asked? Or-or maybe...

"What is it?"

Naruto blinked, wondering if she'd spoken aloud. "Uh?"

"I can feel you thinking," he said, amusement lacing his voice, "And frankly I don't think that's your strong suit so just come out with it."

Naruto's eye twitched, "Is that so?"

Shikamaru hummed in agreement then promptly winced when Naruto pinched his shoulder hard.

Naruto huffed, "Fine, if you must know I was wondering why you came, not that I mind of course," she quickly reassured him when his shoulder minutely tensed, "You looked a little dejected."

There was a long silence in which Naruto held her breath, wondering if he was going to stand up and leave because she was being nosy. Well, if that's the case I'm not going to let him, she thought firmly.

"I was not 'dejected'," Shikamaru finally muttered his voice slightly indignant.

Naruto snorted, "Yes you were."

Shikamaru lifted his head his mouth opened to argue but then closed. He let out a sigh of resignation, "Whatever." He muttered dropping his head back on the pillow.

Naruto stuck her tongue out in triumph, enjoying the easy banter between them. She laughed and nudged him as she got off him to lay beside him. "Now, stop stalling and tell me what happened."

Shikamaru sighed again, "It's really not that big of a deal."

"Yeah well, tell me anyway."

Shikamaru lifted himself up as he ran his hand through his loose hair, for some inexplicable reason his hairband always got lost during their 'activities'. Naruto liked it though, with his hair in a wild mane, he looked less serious and more child-like.

"It's Ino." He finally said with a roll of his eyes.

Naruto blinked in realization as everything clicked. "Ah, you must have heard the rumours."

Shikamaru looked at her, his eyebrow raised, "You know about them too? Wait, how long has this actually been going on?"

Naruto shrugged sitting up, "I don't know, Ino just told me about it today."

He groaned in his hand, "troublesome."

"Hey, it's not so bad," Naruto tried to soothe, "I'm sure nobody believes those rumours, I mean, I didn't."

"Well, you're different," he eyed her appraisingly up and down causing her to flush.

He took her hand and began playing with her fingers, she had the urge to retract it when he started examining her bitten nails but stopped herself when he spoke next. "I was with the others tonight and they all had different assumption about the reason why Temari and I broke up, all because Ino couldn't keep her damn mouth shut."

Naruto hummed thoughtfully, she could imagine how that must have gone. Everybody had probably made their own judgment. It was disappointing, really, to think that people were so bored with their own lives that they were willing to believe in gossips stories about other people. Naruto was especially disappointed in their friends, to think that were elite ninjas.

Must be the lack of real missions, she thought, it was giving them too much free time on their hands.

"I'm not even upset that there are rumours about me," Shikamaru was saying, pulling Naruto from her thoughts, "I guess I'm just a little hurt that they somehow all think it was my fault."

Naruto blinked in surprise and a little alarm when he let out a bitter laugh.

He looked at her, smiling wryly, "or maybe I'm just feeling a little guilty."

Naruto's face blanked out immediately pulling her hand out his, "oh really?" She glared cursing him silently for reminding her of her own guilt.

"Wait, I didn't mean-" Shikamaru said trying to stop her but she was already out of the bed pulling on her oversized sleeping shirt. She shook her head cutting him off.

"Don't bother, I don't want to hear about your regrets or whatever," She let out a sigh, "I don't understand you at all, you came to me, it's not like I went chasing after you so now you're talking to me about your guilt, it's like you keep pulling then pushing me away," the last words was said quietly almost sadly.

"Listen I-"

Naruto shook her head forcefully closing her eyes, "Whatever, if this is how you're going to be we might as well stop this-"

She was cut off by Shikamaru standing abruptly from the bed stomping towards her with a glare on his face.

What was he angry about, she opened her mouth ready to really let him have it when he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her toward him in a deep kiss that left her weak in the knees. She quickly grabbed his shoulders to support herself when he finally pulled away. She blinked stupidly up at him as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Was that the kiss of someone that regrets anything?"

Naruto blinked some more before shaking her head, "but you said-" he kissed her again.

This time when he pulled away, he had an exasperated expression on his face, "Would you let me talk? Geez, why are all the women in my life so talkative?"

Naruto glared but didn't say anything, not because she didn't want him to interrupt her with another kiss, instead it was the opposite, him standing naked and so close in front of her was tempting her to just throw him back on the bed and ravish him.

As if reading her mind he smirked in amusement, and she glared harder her cheeks reddening in embarrassment, she stepped back from his hold.

"It's true that I feel a little guilty about us, but I don't regret anything. Never."

Naruto studied him for a long moment, before relaxing, "I suppose you'd have to be a complete jerk to not feel a guilty for banging one of your friend shortly after your break up," Naruto conceded, ignoring his wince at her harsh words, who ever said she had tact? "But, as long as there's no regrets then it's cool, I guess."

"Yeah, thanks," Shikamaru said sarcastically as he sat back down on the bed, "but really, that's not what I meant, you got it all wrong, I meant I feel guilty about the break up."

Naruto blinked in confusion, "What's there to feel guilty about? It's not like you broke up with her."

Shikamaru glared at her in irritation under his hair, "you forgot that it's because of me that she broke things off, because I wouldn't agree to marry her."

Naruto blinked once, twice before her expression changed to one of realisation, "oh...oh."

"You're so troublesome," Shikamaru huffed throwing himself back on the bed and looking at the ceiling. It didn't seem to bother him that he was still completely naked.

Naruto shifted in embarrassment, "sorry," she mumbled sheepishly walking to sit next to him.

Shikamaru just shrugged. Naruto ran her hands into her hair to keep it away from her face, her bangs were growing way too long for her liking she'd have to cut it soon. She looked at Shikamaru when she felt another hand into her hair, he was twirling her hair with his finger which Naruto found a little odd since he could have been doing that with his own hair. It was long enough after all. She inwardly shrugged, as they both fell in a thoughtful silence.

"You know," Naruto said after awhile, "Maybe you just need to talk to Ino and explain yourself."

Shikamaru snorted, "Like that is going to help any, she will probably just try and drive me more insane."

Naruto rolled her eyes, "Not if you just open up to her, I mean she is your best friend what's the worst that could happen?"

"Well, I told her about the break up look how well that turned out!"

Naruto grimaced conceding his point, but she wasn't done though. "Okay, maybe she went a little overboard, but she was just trying to help."

"Yeah, by telling everyone and making me the laughing stock of Konoha!" He rolled his eyes at her, and sarcastically he said, "With any luck anything more I might reveal might just reach Suna. Gee, I think I will pass."

Naruto scowled at him, her patience wearing thin, "You're upset that Ino is blaming you for the break up aren't you? And you want her to understand and respect your decision for not taking Temari-san's offer of marriage right?"

Shikamaru blinked in surprised but eventually nodded slowly, "I guess so."

Naruto rolled her eyes, "Then what's the problem? All you need to do is make her see things your way. Ino may have a big mouth but she's also smart, if you show her how valid your reasons are I'm sure she will leave you alone." She emphasized the last word hoping he'd get it.

Shikamaru nodded, "yeah, but it's not that simple, I mean I did tell her the whole story along with Chouji and she thought I was selfish."

"Then just try harder!" Naruto exclaimed loudly in frustration forgetting for a moment that it was one o'clock at night and that she had neighbours that were busy sleeping. She cannot believe that he wasn't taking the hint, he was supposed to be the genius between the two of them. How can't he get what she was getting at? Ugh...

Shikamaru blinked at Naruto whose face was getting redder by the second, fist clenched by her side. "Hey," he said gently as if speaking to a wild animal, "Calm down, it's not a big deal okay? I'm going to talk to her if that's what you really want."

If that's what she wants, what the hell?

Naruto shook her head sighing in resignation, "I can't believe I need to spell it out for you," she pinched the bridge of her nose mentally begging for patience, "Listen, the way I see it Ino is mad at you because you won't open up to her and that is making her suspicious that maybe you're hiding something, and I seriously doubt that you want Ino to seriously start investigating what's really going on in your life do you?"

Shikamaru still looked blanked, Naruto had to wonder how much drink he had for him to be this slow.

"She's going to find out about us, damn it!" She exclaimed throwing him a glare, "Do you want that to happen?"

Shikamaru's face finally finally broke in realization and Naruto had to stop the urge to smack her forehead. He smiled sheepishly at her, "It's the lack of sleep," he offered.

"Clearly," Naruto said dryly rolling her eyes before falling back on the bed to mimic his position.

Shikamaru sighed, running his hands through his hair, "Did she say something to you?"

"Yeah, she said something about suspecting that the break up had something to do with another girl, because the rumours kept referring to a third party. The funny thing is she was looking at me in a weird way," Naruto shuddered at the memory, "As if she could read my mind or something."

Shikamaru chuckled, "Yeah she does that sometimes, a technique to intimidate you into revealing what you know."

Naruto looked at him pensively, "It's weird that she would use that technique on me don't you think? Is it possible that she's suspecting me?" The thought made her pale, and the guilt she repressed was threatening to swallow her.

She bit her lips in worry, if Ino was suspecting something it wouldn't take long until they're found out. And what would people think of her when if that happened? It's not like they've been really careful with their sneaking so what were the odds that somebody didn't see Shikamaru or her going into each other's apartment. Could be how those rumours actually started.

She blinked when she felt a finger removing her lips from under her teeth. She looked up at Shikamaru he was lying on his side and looking at her with that expression again, the one that left her breathless, the one that brought the selfish part of her that didn't care about the consequence of their actions as long as he kept looking at her like that. Like she was the most precious thing he'd ever laid eyes on.

"What have I told you about biting your lips?" He asked softly brushing her lips, she could feel the goosebumps on her arm and she distantly wondered whether she'd left the window open again. "You just drive me insane when you do that."

Naruto swallowed several times, "I...I...sorry," she didn't even know why she was apologizing, but damn if he wasn't making it hard to think clearly. It didn't help that she could feel his throbbing length on her arm.

Shikamaru chuckled brushing the hair from her face lightly, "Don't worry, nobody will find out unless we let them, okay? I will talk to Ino and make sure she doesn't know anything."

Naruto nodded slowly as he bent his head to kiss the corner of her lips, he pulled back just enough to catch her eyes.

"This will just be our dirty little secret." With that he caught her full lips with his.

As Shikamaru worked to bring her at the brink of insanity, things with Naruto never felt so right. Once again, how can something wrong feel so right?

Doesn't matter as long as this stays their dirty little secret, how can things go wrong?

...

There was a knock at the door and a flare of chakra to signal the identity of the person, before the door opened.

"Did you want to see me?" Temari asked standing at the door.

Without looking from his paper, Gaara indicated the chair in front of his desk.

A moment later she dropped on the chair, she waited patiently for him to finish, already used to his silence.

Her gaze wandered around the office, seeing lots of papers on the floor. It was as if someone had been trying to write a letter but failed to find the proper words. Temari raised an eyebrow, the only reason she knew Gaara would go through so much trouble trying to perfect a letter was if apologizing was involved. Though, she couldn't think of anyone that Gaara would want to apologize to.

No, actually she could think of at least one person who her brother would actually put that much effort for. And the location of that person was enough to give her a bad feeling.

When he was done, Gaara reread what he'd written then he nodded, seemingly satisfied with it.

"I received some interesting news from Konoha," Said Gaara as he folded the page and placed it in an envelope with the Kazekage's stamp on it and put the letter on the side of the table.

The bad feeling intensified, she already knew where the conversation was headed. "Oh? What was it about?" She decided to play ignorant.

Gaara lifted his gaze to stare at her, it took all her self-control not to flinch. His facial expression did not change, but she could still sense the disappointment coming from him. After a moment he shook his head, taking out a note from his desk drawer, he handed it to her. "Maybe reading this might give you an idea."

Temari hesitated, before taking the letter from him. Her face was pale when she was done reading. "Gaara I -I can explain."

Gaara inclined his head, crossing his arms on the table, his face was expressionless. "Please do."

Temari looked down at her hands in her lap. "I just...it's..." She took a deep breath, closing her hands into fists. "I messed up, okay? I'm sorry. I didn't think things would go out of control like that, I let my emotions get ahead of myself."

Gaara sighed as he watched his sister's miserable face, his own softened against his will. This was partly his fault too for not managing the situation the way he should have. If only he'd turned the council's ridiculous idea away the moment it was formed, maybe all of this would have been avoided. Still, Temari had gone and done what he explicitly told her not to, and now the hokage was angry. "What happened? I thought I told you that I would handle the council."

It was Temari's turn to sigh shaking her head. "What's the use? They won't change their minds." She turned to look out the window, she sighed again. "At first I didn't mind much because I had Shikamaru, and I was so sure that he would marry me, but it seems I was wrong." She finished with a shrug, her eyes still looking out the window.

Gaara didn't know what to say, so he kept quiet and waited patiently for her to continue. Her used of the past tense when she referred to the shadow master wasn't lost on him.

"I went to him with the plan of just hinting at the whole thing, knowing that he would get it and propose," she laughed humourlessly, "but the bastard kept ignoring it, so I got annoyed and I went right out and told him we should get married."

"He didn't want to?"

"He told me he wasn't ready for that kind of commitment yet, but he might as well have told me that he didn't want to marry me." Temari snorted before shaking her head, "I was shocked and a little hurt, I thought...well," she shrugged looking away, suddenly remembering to whom she was speaking to, she felt a little embarrassed. "Doesn't matter anymore what I thought."

"That's when you told him about the council?" He asked softly putting two and two together, somehow sensing his sisters' sudden embarrassment to speak about her break up.

"Yeah, sort of." Temari cleared her throat, shifting a little uncomfortably, she wasn't very proud about what came next. "I told him about the council, but I kind of made it sound like Konoha council was also involved."

Gaara resisted the urge to rub his temple and sigh tiredly, instead he nodded for her to continue. "Go on."

Temari shifted guiltily, she was grateful that Gaara had lost all his murderous lust, she didn't think she'd still be alive otherwise for what she was about to tell him. "I told him that the council was forcing me to get married to him as an alliance to strengthen both villages."

"Did he believe you?"

"He did believe me for the most part, but that only reinforce his decision not to marry me." She tried to shrugged nonchalantly but her heart still clenched at the memory of that day, she remembered feeling so hurt and betrayed. She'd always thought that they were at the stage in their relationship where marriage was the only thing missing. Apparently she'd been deluding herself all this time.

Gaara studied his sister for a moment before letting out an inaudible sigh. "Judging from your expression you didn't just leave it be?"

Temari shook her head, fists clenching on her lap, she bit the inside of her cheeks to keep the tears that was threatening to come out, "I..." She cleared her throat since that came out raspy, "I lost my temper, said some stuff and...and..." She hugged herself tightly, looking to the side to hide her face from Gaara's perceptive gaze, she shrugged imperceptibly. "I kind of broke up with him."

"Ah." Was all Gaara said, having nothing else to offer as he awkwardly watched his sister's hunched shoulders. This was not his area of expertise after all.

Gaara's expression didn't change but inwardly he frowned. On one side he couldn't blame Temari for going through such measures, after all it concerned her future.

Unbeknownst to the other hidden villages, Suna's financial situation had taken a downward turn after the war. Being one of the poorest country in the first place, it had become especially worse now that they were in time of peace. With the lack of real danger in the world, it meant less mission coming in and a ninja village need missions to get funding. Gaara had been wreaking his head around the issue for two years now, it was a wonder he'd been able to keep everything hidden from other villages. Just when he thought all hopes was lost, a solution in the form of a marriage proposal had been deposited on his table. Apparently the daimyo's nephew had taken a liking to his sister after she'd been assigned to protect him during one of his many travels.

Gaara was stumped. On one hand there was no doubt of all the advantages and opportunities that would entail, especially for the village. But on the other hand, it was at the cost of his sister's happiness.

As Kazekage though, Gaara was forced to inform the council of the situation and maybe that was his mistake, because they immediately sprung onto the idea like vultures would a corpse. And before he knew it Temari was being summoned into his office.

He loathed to admit that he'd sat silently by as he watched his sister's face go ashen as the council explain the situation and that her duties to village was first priority and she should stop 'whatever frivolous activities she was holding with Konoha's boy seeing as it was leading her nowhere'.

To say that his sister had been angry was an understatement, only a look from him had stopped her from retorting something he imagine would've gotten her into trouble.

Gaara sighed, so no, he didn't blame Temari for her actions seeing as she was backed into a corner. He just wished she had trusted him in handling things instead of going against his orders.

Gaara would never hand over his sister's hand in marriage for political reasons, even if it was for the benefit of the country. He may not look it but he held his sister's happiness above all else. And what kind of example would he be setting to his people if he handed his sister away at the first sign of trouble in his village? He could just imagine what a certain blonde girl with blue eyes would say about that idea.

He looked at his sister's slumped form and tired distant eyes and felt a twinge of sympathy for her. He couldn't imagine what she was going through right now, but she should've expected that things would not go as she'd hope. She should've at least expected the Nara to be suspicious of her story and he would take things to the hokage. His sister was supposed to be smarter than that.

Plus, it would've saved me the paperwork, he lamented silently glancing at the letter on his desk. He wisely kept his thoughts to himself though.

"I'm sorry things didn't work out between you two." He offered instead knowing that it probably wouldn't help.

"Yeah, me too," Temari said shrugging one shoulder.

They sat in silence for a minute, finally Temari sat up straight, having pulled herself together. "Gaara, I'm really sorry I didn't mean to cause you any trouble with the hokage. I never thought things would get out of hand."

Gaara sighed, finally giving into the urge to rub his temple. "The damage is already done, lets just focus on fixing it."

Temari perked up. "So what are we going to do?"

Gaara picked up the envelope letter he'd put on his desk. "I wrote the hokage a letter explaining that this was just a big misunderstanding and t-"

"But this wasn't just a misunderstanding," Temari shot forward interrupting him, "Not really, the council won't give up on that idea I would still need to get married."

"Only if you hadn't interrupted me," a downturn of his lips the only proof of his annoyance, "I was going to say that I also asked for a meeting with the hokage."

Temari frowned slightly before her eyes narrowed at her composed brother, "You have a plan."

"Let's just say it's time I put aside my pride and ask help from an ally."

Temari winced in guilt, but she couldn't help the slight hope that was blossoming in her.

"Meanwhile," Gaara was saying as he picked up his pen from the desk and started signing the many documents that littered his desk, "I expect you to start practicing your apology speech, because you will be coming with me."

"Apology? For what?"

Gaara lifted a hairless brow, "You don't think you at least owe your boyfriend and his hokage an apology for making them think that we're trying to take advantage of the alliance between us?"

Temari had the grace to blush in embarrassment.

Satisfied, Gaara went back to his work a sign that she was dismissed.

Temari stood up walking toward the door only to freeze at Gaara's next words.

"By the way, you're not allowed to go on a mission for the next two months. Consider it your punishment for disobeying my orders." He didn't need to look up to know his sister's expression was indignant.

"What? That's not fair!"

"Oh?" Gaara looked up raising his nonexistent eyebrow, "maybe we should make it three months then."

Temari sputtered before finally slumping in resignation, "fine, I guess it could have been worse."

"Indeed," Gaara said a little amused despite himself, he was glad that the gloom that was hanging around his sister earlier had disappeared. And all it took was to give her a little hope. Returning his sister's wave with a nod, he went back to his paperwork.

He desperately hoped that he wasn't over his head and that Konoha was going to help him with what he had planned. He knew it was probably selfish of him but he was banking on the Nara's supposed love for his sister.

After all, don't you make sacrifices for the person you love?

...

It was with a lighter heart Temari left her brother/leader's office. Now that she knew that all hopes wasn't lost. She was confident that Konoha will be able to help them. They always did. After that things would go back to normal with Shikamaru.

Temari frowned as she entered her and her brothers shared home, well as normal as things could be, considering the recent events that occurred between them. Which was her fault admittedly.

With a sigh she navigated her way to her room absently noting that Kankouro's room was dark which meant he was probably asleep.

It's not that Temari had expected Shikamaru to believe her and agree to her plan or anything, in fact she'd have been worried if that had happened. But it was still a shock to her when he hadn't hesitated in turning her down. Arranged marriage or not a small part of her had believed that the only step in their relationship left was marriage, so what if it was too early? They loved each other, and Temari felt that she was ready to take that final step, so why wasn't he?

Maybe she was just being selfish, she thought as she undressed to go to bed, after all she knew his situation with the clan and his reluctance to marriage. She may be ready for marriage but she was far from ready to be a mother. She was not ready to give up her life as a ninja yet.

Temari paused, so okay maybe she hadn't thought her plan through, but she'd been desperate at that time. Plus the idea of marrying anyone that wasn't Shikamaru was enough to make her want to barf, as nice as Hideki-san was she only loved one man. And that was Konoha's lazy genius.

With another sigh, she climbed on her bed ready to sleep after a long day. More like a long two weeks, her mind supplied, she cannot believe it's only been that long since they broke up.

"Feels like an eternity ago." She whispered in the darkness staring up at her ceiling. She wondered how Shikamaru was doing, was he feeling as torn up and broken about this as she seemed to be feeling? Did he miss her? If so, why didn't he come looking for her yet?

He was probably still angry with her, she deduced sadly, she couldn't blame him though. She just hoped he'd be willing to hear her explanation and forgive her.

Temari trusted her brother and she just hoped things would turn out for the best. With that she closed her eyes succumbing to her exhaustion.

...

She woke up to her left arm feeling numb. Blue eyes blinked blearily at the mass of brown hair blocking her vision. It took her several seconds to realized that it was Shikamaru's. She couldn't see his face because his head was bent...Naruto blushed as she realized his face was buried in her breast. She could feel his soft breath as he slept soundly.

Was he snuggling in her chest? Naruto blushed again, but she couldn't help the small soft smile that formed on her lips. She found it was kinda cute. Both their upper body were exposed, Naruto was only grateful that she hadn't forgotten to close the window this time or they'd have caught a cold.

Her smile disappeared as she realized that there was still the pressing issue about her numb arm, which was laying under Shikamaru's heavy body. For someone so lazy he sure packed a lot of muscles. He was almost crushing her arm with his weight!

She let out a soft breath ruffling some strand of his hair as she wondered how to remove her arm without rousing him. He looked so exhausted last night when he came and it didn't help that they hadn't slept up until three this morning.

After debating with herself for a couple of seconds she decided that there was no possible ways she could free her arm without risking waking him up. She would just need to remove her arm and hope he wouldn't wake. Counting until three she slowly removed her arm from under him, immediately she could feel the blood returning to her arm and the tiny pin-needles that came after.

She let out a sigh of relief only to catch her breath when Shikamaru shifted away from her, fortunately he didn't wake. He'd only changed position so now his face wasn't snuggling in her chest anymore but rather his face was now only inches from hers.

Naruto was rather fascinated at the peaceful expression on his face. His face lacked the lazy and annoyed expression he's always sporting that made him look older than he was (for some reason she expected him to look bored even while sleeping) she was surprised at how boyish he looked. She leaned back to better look at him, she'd never had the chance to really study him closely. He wasn't as pale as Sasuke or even Neji but he wasn't also tanned like her. His skin color seemed to be more of the creamy color. He had long lashes she noticed (not surprising, she'd noticed most boys seemed to be gifted in that area). She could see a faint small scar just above his brow, she had to actually bit her lip to stop herself from reaching out and touching it. She wondered what was the story behind it, she'd seen several other scar on his back from either training or missions when she was massaging him.

They said scars were a testament of your bravery. She felt a little warmth in her stomach imagining who he'd had to save that caused those scars. Because she knew no matter how selfish and uncaring he always acted, Shikamaru was probably one of the most selfless guy she knew.

Her gaze slid down to his chest where she knew other scars to be only for her eyes to widen at all the fresh bruises and scratch marks that was marring his chest and neck. She bit her lip when she also spotted a slight burn mark on his shoulder. Kurama's chakra had leaked again, it seemed to happen a lot when she was with him. The way he gets her so excited was enough to make her lose control of herself. She wasn't sure she liked it very much.

Their attraction for each other, shouldn't it have faded at least little? Because she had a feeling that it was only growing more, the way he made her feel was so unlike anything else that she was afraid when the time came she wouldn't be able to let him go.

She shook those thoughts away, she was just being ridiculous. There was no way she felt anything for Shikamaru other than physical attraction.

'Hm, maybe it would be in your best interest to stop this whole thing right now." Her eternal companion interjected in her head.

Naruto hesitated before shaking her head inwardly, 'not just yet, anyways I've got things under control so you don't need to worry.'

There was a loud snort from the chakra best and it resonated in her head making her wince, 'really? So why do I hear doubt in your voice?"

Naruto pursed her lips refusing to say anything that might implicate her more.

'Face it, kit,' the fox went on, 'you're in way over your heads, when this thing will come and blow up in your faces not even that genius of yours will know how to fix it. I hope you realize that he is using you, you're just a replacement until his girlfriend comes back.'

Naruto winced before scowling, 'Kurama, you worry too much everything will be-'

'And you don't worry enough!' He growled causing Naruto to flinch outwardly.

She didn't notice Shikamaru waking up since she was too shocked at the kyuubi's outburst.

There was a sigh, she imagined the fox deflating. 'Whatever, you're way too stubborn for your own good, but don't say I didn't warn you.'

Before Naruto could say anything more, the link between them was cut off.

'Kurama?'

Silence.

'Come on don't get angry over this.'

Still no response.

'Fine, you stupid fox, go to your corner and sulk see if I care!'

"Naruto? Are you alright?" She blinked at the brown eyes that was staring at her with slight concern, "you look mad."

Naruto blinked some more before shaking her head, she lifted herself into a sitting position. "No, I'm fine."

Shikamaru followed her position yawning loudly and stretching his arm until his joints popped.

Naruto watched him look around her room, trying to see it from his eyes. It wasn't much, more of a closet than an actual room. It was big enough for only her bed and her desk, her bed was against the window where she'd put a plant. The yellow paint on the wall was fading and cracks could be seen. She'd tried to make it homelier by pasting posters of different kinds. On her left was the door to the bathroom. All in all it was pitiful, but it was also the only home she'd ever known.

Shikamaru finished his inspection of her room but didn't make any comments which made her both grateful and resentful. She didn't know whether his lack of comment meant that he felt sorry for her and he didn't want to make her feel bad.

Suddenly, she wanted him gone from her room. Great, the fox had ruined her happy mood.

"What time is it?" Shikamaru said next to her as he looked outside the window to gauge the position of the sun.

"I don't know, time for you to go I guess," she winced at how rude she sounded.

Shikamaru blinked at her in surprise, before his expression blanked and he looked at her in bored manner, "At least can I take a shower or is that too much to ask of your hospitality?"

Naruto almost flinched, before sighing and looked away, "Sure, I guess."

Shikamaru stood picking up his clothes from the floor before making his way to the bathroom uncaring of all the bruises and scratches marring his body. Naruto watched him under her bangs as he stopped in front of the door, sighing he turned towards her.

"You can join me if you want."

Without waiting for a response he opened the door and walked in closing it behind him.

Naruto sat uncertainly for several minutes before making up her mind. She stood up dropping the sheet covering her body on the floor and followed after him.

LINEBREAK_

Shikamaru was busy waiting for the water to warm up when she slid behind him her arms circling his waist, she kissed his shoulder lightly.

He smirked looking at her over his shoulder, "couldn't resist, uh?"

"Shut up," Naruto mumbled feeling her face flush in embarrassment and stepped back, she pretended to brush her hair with her fingers so that he wouldn't see her face.

Shikamaru chuckled before returning his attention to the running water. Naruto watched him from under her hair as he tested the temperature of the water with his hands, she had the urge to apologize and explain herself for her rudeness. But what could she say? That "I'm sorry for being short with you out there but the fox just ruined my morning by being a bastard and reminding me of how badly this is going to end,"? Yeah, not happening. Sighing silently, absently undoing the knots of hair at the back of head. She was brought out of her thoughts by a sound she could faintly hear above the shower sound. She blinked when she realized it was coming from Shikamaru, he was humming softly.

Her bathroom wasn't that big, just like her room it was enough to fit one person. The shower and the toilet was separated by a curtain including a sink. So there wasn't that much space between them, despite the shower running she should have been able to hear him. But he was singing so softly that she had to strain her ears to try and identify what he was singing. She drew a blank.

Giving up, she just stepped next to him, "What's that?"

He looked at her in surprise before blushing, Naruto mentally raised an eyebrow at that curious reaction.

"Just something my mom used to sing for me when I was little." He mumbled giving her a quirk of the lips.

Naruto nodded in understanding, "It's nice."

He blushed again and Naruto didn't think anyone could look that cute.

"Um, thanks," he said before quickly stepping under the shower. "Are you coming? The water is now a little warm."

It took a moment for Naruto to realize that Shikamaru was actually shy. Naruto's eyes widened before a soft fond smile appeared on her lips, apparently even lazy geniuses can act human.

Letting out a soft laugh she joined him and immediately his hands were all over her body. Naruto let out a gasp, both at getting wet with water that was no way near warm and at the sudden attention her body was receiving.

"Sorry," he said not sounding sorry at all, "but it was taking way too long to warm up." He bent down taking in her already harden nipples.

"it's...fine," Naruto breathed wiping the water from her face unsuccessfully since she was standing directly below the shower more water kept blinding her eyes. Her other hand was busy running through his damp hair.

The water was freezing yet she couldn't bring herself to care, not that she could get sick anyways. She hummed in approval when she was hoisted up her legs immediately latching around his waist he brought his mouth to hers. He tasted even better wet.

Propped up against the whole with Shikamaru holding her up, she looked down at Shikamaru who was looking at her with obvious longing and lust and desperation. It made her feel in control, because she was the one making him feel like that and she was the only one that could give whatever he was desperate for.

How could she give up something like that so soon just after it had begun? The truth was, she needed him as much as he needed her. Things hadn't been clear up until now, but she knew that Kurama was wrong. Shikamaru wasn't using her any less than she was using him. She hadn't felt as alone since the time they decided to sleep together.

If Shikamaru was using her to fill in the void that his girlfriend left behind then she was using him to fill in the same void she'd been filling for years with friends. Loneliness.

So when Shikamaru finally entered her with one smooth motion she held him tightly to her body muffling her moan of pleasure on his shoulder with every thrusts as he worked to bring her on the brink to completeness. Silently she decided that she was not going to end things yet. Not unless Shikamaru didn't need her anymore, until then she would continue to use him as much as he used her. She would just have to deal with the consequences when the time came.

Kurama would just need to get over himself.

...

By the time they were done Shikamaru's body was shivering uncontrollably, he let out a sneeze as he emerged from the bathroom closing the door behind him.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He heard Naruto call from the bathroom where he'd left her still washing her hair. Apparently Naruto wasn't any different from any other girl and liked to take her time when it came to taking care of her hair which was understandable given their length.

He ran his hand through his own damp hair as another sneeze took over. "'m fine!" He called back sniffling as he fell back on Naruto's small bed.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't such a good idea having sex in a cold shower, but he'd quickly come to realize Naruto didn't make him think straight especially when she was naked. Letting out another shiver this time for a different reason.

He refused to analyze what it all meant, instead he turned his attention back around the room. They say a person's room tells you everything you wanted to know about the person's personality. And it was particularly true when it came to Naruto, her room was messy and disorganized but not dirty, yet it also felt warm and inviting from the pale yellow color to the different posters on the whole and the plant on her window, just like her personality indicated. He was kind of relieved at that, it meant that at least some of the personality she showed wasn't faked. He'd come to realize that Naruto wasn't all what she showed, which was brash and dumb behavior. She was more mature than he had previously given her credit. Moreover she seemed to be quite perspective.

He had to admit that Naruto was turning out to be more interesting the more time he spent with her. He couldn't wait to see what else she would surprise him with.

Speaking of which...Shikamaru's attention was caught by the envelopes that was on the desk. He raised an eyebrow when he remembered seeing the Hokage give them to Naruto the day that she'd come back from her mission.

He would never have normally done this, but he'd just been thinking about learning what Naruto was hiding so this could be a good way. Sitting up, he grabbed one of the already opened letters and started to read.

Dear Uzumaki-san

I know you probably don't remember me but I was one of the people you saved when my village was taken over by bandits and I was one of the villagers that was taken hostage.

You probably don't know this, but before you came along I had already given up on life, thinking that my only fate was death or eternal slavery. Then, you came along like a fallen angel, just like your bright hair you brought the sun into my dark life, you gave us hope and strength to fight back. You showed us that giving up should never be an option and we would forever be grateful to you.

As thankful as I am for everything that you've done, that's not really why I'm writing. This may seem sudden and maybe a little surprising but I have fallen in love with you. I haven't stopped thinking about you since that faithful night when you'd smiled at me under all those bright stars and told me how brave you thought I was. It was the first time someone had acknowledged me other than my mom. When you told me about your own lonely experience in your village I have sworn to save you from those ungrateful bastards. You deserve the world so I worked hard at the farm this past year and saved enough money to provide for you.

Just say it, and I'm ready to do anything for you even fight against a village full of ninja. I can make you happy if you give me the chance.

P.S I will be waiting for your reply.

Yours faithfully,

Shizuka from the Tanaka village.

Shikamaru blinked when he realized that this was one of Naruto's suitors. He glanced at the other letters and all of them seemed to be more or less similar. He knew that Naruto was well known all over the world but he hadn't known that she had so many people requesting for her affection. They were about twenty letters here! He wasn't surprised though, Naruto always seemed to leave an impact on people wherever she went and it was mostly always positive. She truly was an incredible woman.

"What are you doing?"

Shikamaru tried not too look guilty as he turned to look at the girl behind him. Instead of the anger he expected to see on her face when she spotted the letters in his hands, instead she only frowned in confusion as she wiped her hair with a towel she was dressed in an orange tracksuit pants with an equally orange top.

"Why are you reading those?"

Shikamaru smiled sheepishly, "I saw them on the desk and it made me curious."

"Oh yeah? Then I hope it was worth it."

Shikamaru inwardly winced, okay maybe she was a little angry. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you."

Naruto sighed dropping her towel on the floor as she walked over to him taking the letters from his hands, "I'm not upset, just a little embarrassed." She looked down at one particular letter and smiled wryly, "pretty cheesy don't you think?"

Shikamaru looked at the letter she was referring to, it was the guy from Tanaka, he shrugged raising his eyebrow at her. "It seem really honest to me."

Naruto seemed surprised at his words before chuckling softly, "It kinda does, doesn't it?"

He looked at her curiously but she just shook her head dropping the letter on the desk. She turned to him with a bright smile.

"So what's your plan for today?"

Shikamaru was curious at her reaction, he had a feeling that she wasn't all that happy about those letters which was surprising since he'd always thought that Naruto wanted acknowledgement more than anything, that's what she'd always shouted for the whole world to hear anyways, and here there were so many people wanting her attention and she seemed almost disappointed about it. But if Naruto didn't want to talk about it, who was he to ask her?

Shaking his head from his thoughts, he scratched his head while giving a slight shrugged, "I don't know, probably rest then go visit my mom since it's my day off."

It's customary for Shinobi to have a free day the following day after returning from a mission. He hadn't seen his mother for awhile now and knowing her she was probably worried about him. She hated it when he took longer than two days to visit. With the apparent rumours going around she was bound to hear about his break up if she didn't already and he wanted to talk to her himself, he didn't want her to make any assumptions like the rest of his friends.

"That sounds like a good plan," Naruto said only to scowl when something he'd said seem to catch her attention. She pointed an accusing finger at him and the other hand going on her hips, "Hey, how come you get to go on mission but whenever I ask for one there's always nothing available?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Probably because you're not allowed to take missions for awhile."

"What?" Naruto's eyes widened as she flayed her hands up and down, "but why not? I don't remember doing anything recently to warrant punishment."

Shikamaru gave her a deadpan look, "Seriously? After messing up on your last mission you expect the Hokage to hand you another one so soon?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean 'messing up' our last mission? It's true that we didn't go according to plan and things got a little out of control but at least we completed the mission and we captured those missing-nin like the report ask her to."

Shikamaru sighed rubbing his face, maybe he'd spoken too soon because Naruto was still idiot.

"Naruto, from what I heard it was supposed to be an inconspicuous mission, you were supposed to investigate before you take any actions but you guys did nothing of the sort you managed to cause chaos in the short amount of time you were there and the hokage is the one that has to deal with the aftermath."

"I will have you know that we did try to investigate but it's not our fault that things didn't go according to plan. You weren't there so you don't know what you're saying." Naruto said defensively.

Shikamaru sighed again, "Troublesome, look I'm not judging you or anything like that I'm..." He rubbed his neck wondering how he could explain what he meant without setting her off, she needed to understand that getting the mission complete wasn't enough. Glancing at her under his bangs, she was looking at him with a raised brow as she waited for him to continue. He looked out the window, from the position of the sun it could be ten o'clock he was about to look away when he caught sight of the hokage mountain and he knew what to say.

"You want to be hokage right?" At her nod he continue, "then I suggest grow up."

She sputtered in anger but he went on without giving her a chance to speak, "You're strong, Naruto, everyone knows that but that's not enough to earn you the hat that you'd always dreamed of, you need to have a quality of leadership especially during missions. Just getting a mission done is not enough, especially if your client is going to complain about you at the end of it. Above all though, taking responsibility for your messes is another high quality for a good leader."

Naruto blinked several times before sighing, "You're right, we were out of control and we messed up we should have at least offered to clean up."

Shikamaru smiled glad that he got through to Naruto, "Yeah you should have."

Naruto gave him a contemplative look, "you really know a lot about these things, don't you?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "I'm the head of tactics, I'm supposed to know about these stuff even if it troublesome."

Naruto snorted shaking her head at him in amazement, "You're so smart, yet you're also very lazy, I don't get it."

"Don't stress, I don't get it either so I just chalk it up as a gift."

Naruto punched him playfully, "There's no way being lazy is any gift."

Shikamaru chuckled softly before being interrupted by a sneeze followed by a cough.

Naruto looked at him in concern, "Are you sure you're alright though? Maybe I should make you some tea before you go."

Shikamaru waved his hands dismissively, "No need I'm fine, I'm still just a little cold I will warm up as soon as I go outside under the sun."

Naruto bit her lips in worry, "At least let me give you my jacket, it will make me feel better if I know you're warm."

Shikamaru hesitated before sighing in consent, Naruto didn't need to be told twice as she hurried towards her closet and started rummaging inside. A moment later she let out a triumphant sound.

Shikamaru almost face palmed he saw a bright orange jacket in her hands, "There is no way in hell I'm going to put that on myself."

Naruto's smile disappeared, "Why not? It's really warm I swear."

"I don't doubt that for a second, but people know that jacket the color is very distinctive plus," he eyed the small jacket up and down, "I doubt that it can fit me."

Naruto lifted the clothing to study it, "Hm, it does look small, doesn't it? And I guess you're right about the color people will recognize it at first sight." She gave him a sheepish look to which he responded with an eye role.

"But I don't think I have anything that doesn't at least have the color orange!" She whined tossing the jacket on the floor, apparently folding it back in her closet was too much work.

Shikamaru gave her a look that said "that should give you something to consider, doesn't it?"

Naruto stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to her closet in thought, that's when she noticed something that wasn't orange poking out in between her clothes. She pulled it out in confusion she looked at it for a moment before she remembered what it was. It was the jacket Sasuke had borrowed her after eating at Ichiraku ramen stand, she'd forgotten to bring a jacket and she'd been shivering that evening, to her surprise Sasuke had taken his jacket off and given it to her albeit not before calling her an idiot and other unmentionable insults that she'd ignored because of of the kind gesture.

She gave it to Shikamaru, "This should fit you fine and it's not orange."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "But it's the Uchiha's, I don't think he'd appreciate me walking around the village with his clan symbol...actually, I doubt he would appreciate me having his jacket, period."

Naruto's expression was set in annoyance now, "You let me worry about him, just wear the jacket and go home already."

"Yeah, yeah," Shikamaru wore the jacket like he was told, except for being a little loose, because he was leaner than the Uchiha, the jacket was a perfect fit and it was warm. He looked at Naruto for inspection and she nodded in satisfaction.

They stood in silence for a moment both probably thinking the same thing.

What now?

Except for the first night they'd both planned this whole thing (he was still unsure as to what to call it) he'd been the one to come seek Naruto both times. This would be the fourth day if they were to see each other again tonight, which he so desperately wanted to... to see her again. Maybe he should extend the invitation this time? Coming here was very risky he had to use genjutsu to avoid being seen entering and leaving Naruto's place not to mention her walls were too thin, he had no doubt that her neighbors heard them, they may have tried to muffle their sounds but he wasn't sure how well that had worked.

"I will see you tonight," Naruto blurted out surprising him, "At your place."

Shikamaru blinked wondering if Naruto had read his mind or something. Shikamaru found himself pleased for some reason, that just meant they were both on the same page. It saved him the embarrassment of inviting her to his place, really.

He smiled, "Sure, I will be waiting." He was about to walk over to the window when Naruto grabbed his arm stopping him on his track.

"Oh no you don't," she said through gritted teeth dragging him back, "I get really annoyed when people decide to use the window, the door was built for a reason, ya know."

Shikamaru sighed but let himself being dragged off, "Doors were built for civilians that don't know how to use chakra to jump from high buildings."

Naruto huffed finally releasing him in front of the door, "It would also look suspicious if you were to be seen leaving out of my bedroom window."

"If I didn't know any better I would think that you didn't want people to see me, am I your dirty little secret, Naruto?" he teased lightly opening the door and stepping outside only to have his heart stop beating as he met cold black eyes.

Naruto chuckled obliviously behind him, "you are my dirty little secret, Shikamaru," she blinked as she saw him frozen by the door, "Uhm, Shikamaru? What's wrong?"

She walked around him to see what had startled him only to let out a squeak as she saw who it was. "Sasuke!"

The Uchiha looked between them, face unreadable except for a raised eyebrow, "What is going on here?"

---

Hi, guys! I know what you're all thinking and I totally agree with you I'm a total jerk. And to make it worse, I have no proper excuse for the late update. But to be totally honest with you, I did think of restarting this story or even abandoning it at some point because for some reason it doesn't sound right to me, but then I had to smack myself on the head. I know how it feels to wait for a story only to be disappointed by the author. I don't want to ever be the reason for anyone feeling that so I'm going to suck up all my insecurities and finish this story, even if it takes years to do it.

I want to thank all of you for sticking by me, especially those that took their time to review, it's because of your support that I will keep writing this story.