Chasing You

4. Tired eyes

He's been studying for a very long time.

His eyes waver between the paper in front of him and the clock. The ticking sounds echoing off the walls of the room. It's been approximately three hours. He's been staring at the same scroll for thirty minutes now, and he's bored .

Each time he enters the room, Shikamaru has more textbooks than before, placing them on top of the desk next to him.

"Knock yourself out" comes the usual remark, and then he would walk right out to attend to his matters. A deep yawn passes through him, and he fists his eyes to keep himself awake.

He could go for some ramen right now.

He needs to get out of here; staying in one place for several hours was not the move. Especially if he was only reading. He couldn't concentrate for the life of him. This was worse than training for sage mode!

He dislikes studying at the Hokage tower. He never has the 'free will' to do anything the way he wants to. There was always something that he was doing wrong that Shikamaru or Kakashi would point out, and it was aggravating. His lips parted as another sigh escaped his lungs.

He'll never get out of here.

The stillness of the room irks him, the piles of textbooks staring right into his soul. He's been looking at the same scroll for thirty minutes now, and he's come to the conclusion that desperate times call for desperate measures-

Ramen.

The only problem was that he needed to get past the Nara, which wasn't going to be easy. He could either go with option A: annoy the shit out of him until he has no choice but to kick him out. Or option B- except there isn't an option B because he's a little slow when it comes to forming ideas. It has to come naturally. Therefore, there was nothing more genius than the first one.

He waits a little while for Shikamaru to return with whatever scrolls or documents that are left, and scrunches his face at the clock when fifteen minutes pass by. If Shikamaru isn't returning any time soon, then he thinks that maybe, just maybe, he can casually slip out.

Besides, there wasn't any harm in taking a break. Especially if it's a ramen break.

He gets up and stretches, and casually makes his way towards the door. He stops however when he feels a familiar chakra presence right alongside Shikamaru's.

Hinata!

He inquires that she probably just got back from a mission. He thinks that she would be tired and worn out...but then again... maybe she would like to go out for ramen?

It's been a few days since their spar, and Naruto decided then on that she would become a regular sparring partner. Just like how they were regular ramen partners.

In all honesty, he just needed to get out of this damned room, and Hinata was a potential outlet.

Besides, he wants to talk with her anyway, he likes talking to her. Whatever conversation that comes to mind was easily conveyed with her. She was that good of a friend. That easy to talk to. He found that spending time with her was rather enjoyable. Not that it wasn't enjoyable before, but after the war, they were more close than what he previously deemed, and he's happy about their progress as friends.

"Hey, Hinata!" He steps out of the room and walks towards the pair, Shikamaru's silent glare telling him to get back, study, and simply go away .

She stops mid-sentence and looks over to him with those pale lavender eyes, a small smile appearing on her plump lips, a light pink glistening on her cheeks. A deep and exaggerated sigh that can be heard from kilometers away escapes the Nara's lips.