Mission Separation ((NejiShika/ShikaNeji))

Chapter IV: Clouds

Birds chirped, flying across branches of trees. The sun shone behind the bright white clouds. It was a lovely afternoon. At least, the teenager with black shoulder-length hair believed it was. He watched the breeze that slowly moved the clouds from his windowsill. The same movement that always soothed him whenever he felt tense.

The young man sat straight up on a bed, feeling the gentle gusts of wind brush through his loose hair locks. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling some strange marks on it.

"Shikamaru?"

The male with black hair turned his head around at the mention of his name.

A tall, chubby teenage male leaned against the doorframe. "Is something up?" He asked.

"Choji." Shikamaru rubbed his eyes after blinking in confusion. "What?" He returned the question, lazily facing his whole body to face his friend.

With a sigh, the other man under the doorframe crossed his arms. "I've been your friend for a long time, ya' know?" He glanced at the clouds outside. "Feeling blue?"

Shikamaru internally panted, feeling slightly disclosed. "Just uncertain," he scoffed dryly, "nothing important." He discarded the sheets sluggishly (just like how he discarded his feelings) and moved to the edge of the bed to stand up. 

Choji watched Shikamaru attempt to stand up lazily. "Well, I hope you become certain soon," he huffed in disbelief before leaving.

Rolling his eyes after Choji left, Shikamaru walked out of the room and into the hallway. While heading to the kitchen, he just realized he had forgotten to tie his hair. With a yawn, he decided he didn't care. 

The faint smell of eggs surrounded the hallway. 'Not again,' Shikamaru internally groaned.

Shikamaru stepped into the kitchen, seeing an Uchiha frying some food. "What's for breakfast?"

"You mean lunch?" Neji raised an eyebrow. He sat on the dining table beside his brunette 'girlfriend,' reading a familiar book. "And it's eggs, as always," he resumed.

Groaning, he wobbly stepped toward the seat the male Hyuga was sitting at. He ushered Neji to move over and took a seat beside him. With his elbow resting on the table, Shikamaru propped his cheek on his fist and glanced at the other man reading.

Yawning, Shikamaru finally asked about the book. "Whatcha looking at?" He muttered lazily.

Neji didn't even spare him a glimpse. "Whatever you were looking at."

Just as Shikamaru was about to make a snarky remark, plates were shoved in front of him from above.

A blonde girl cleared her throat. "No elbows on the table, please." She furrowed her brows.

Shikamaru frowned and removed his arm from the table. The girl proceeded to set the table.

Beside him, Shikamaru heard Neji getting lightly scolded for having such a large, thick book on the table. Before he knew it, the chair across from Shikamaru's table became occupied by another teenage girl. Except, her hair was dark blue and shorter than the other. 

"Hinata, where's Naruto?" Even though Shikamaru asked, he didn't care that much. He just wanted to drown out the sound of Neji trying to argue with Ino.

Just as Hinata was about to respond, Sasuke mumbled behind the kitchen counter, "Robbing my house again, maybe."

Tenten snorted with laughter at the Uchiha's statement. 

A large serving of sunny-side-up eggs on a plate was placed in the middle of the dining table. Shikamaru had already lost his appetite after eating eggs for multiple days. 

Once Choji arrived, he helped Ino with distributing everyone's eggs while Sasuke went to find his blond boyfriend. Shikamaru picked up a single chopstick and started to poke the egg on his plate.

Everyone else was happily talking like one big family. Meanwhile, Shikamaru hadn't even laid one finger on his food. He was lost in thought, intensely staring outside the window across him. He thought about the siblings back in Suna and the conversation he had with Neji.

The male Hyuga noticed Shikamaru's deep gaze out into the clouds but didn't comment on it.

Shikamaru snapped out of his thoughts once his name was mentioned. "What?" He questioned, grimacing at the blond who mentioned his name.

Naruto gulped from the sudden look. "Geez, I just wanted to say that your hair's quite long."

"Wow, I had no idea." Shikamaru rolled his eyes persisting in playing with his eggs.

Frowning, Naruto continued to merrily converse with the other ninjas. Sasuke, who sat beside him, was not amused.

Sasuke 'lightly' slammed his palm on the table, silencing everyone. "You're all laughing like brainless idiots while our teammates are missing." He scoffed, staring intensely at everyone until his eyes met Shikamaru's. "And you haven't even touched your egg," he murmured with a hint of bitterness.

After the bold statement, the Uchiha left the dining area, followed by Naruto. 

Neji stood up as well to go to his room, Tenten pursuing him from behind. Shikamaru sighed and also rose to his feet. 

"Where do you think you're going?" Choji questioned in frustration. 

"Eat my food if you want." Shikamaru scratched the back of his neck. "I've no appetite," he yawned in between his words. As he walked away, Choji didn't object and did what the Nara requested.

Walking through the hallway, Shikamaru thought about Sasuke's words and how right they were. Shikamaru always believed the Uchiha to be the more sensible and intelligent one compared to the rest.

Shikamaru went to his room, making sure to close and lock the door behind him. He decided to try contacting Suna again. He reached inside a tissue box inside the drawer of the bedside table. Inside the tissue box, lay a broken device he 'borrowed' from Tenten's pocket. After just one glimpse of a book, he managed to remember some of the key parts of how to restore his device. 

For a moment, he paused.

"I thought that you were some sort of mastermind."

"Why would I be? I have no motive. What would I get for doing that?" 

"I'd resent you if you were lying to me."

Recalling their previous conversation, Shikamaru groaned and laid himself down on the bed. The back of his palm rested on his forehead. His jaw clenched, his heart throbbed, and his back ached. Darn Uchihas with their rough-ass beds.

For a moment, he started to doubt himself. He wasn't actually the traitor... Was he?

A/N:
- Hi, I know it's been almost 3 years since I last updated this fanfiction. But I stumbled upon this and found the plot interesting and it would be a shame if I weren't to continue it. Just so you all know, I forgot a lot about Naruto. So far, the only thing I've researched a bit is Shikamaru.
I don't know or remember much about the canon things, history, and characters' personalities so forgive me if I make any mistakes on the plot or the characters themselves. I can't remember the entire plot but left some things on the Story Notes. With that, I'll try to find a direction where I want this fanfiction to go.
Also, I just want to add that the dialogue Shikamaru recalled from his conversation with Neji was intended to be different from what I actually wrote in the previous chapter.