Coreopsis

.5

Hanahaki disease:

An illness where the victim of an unrequited, or one-sided, love begins to vomit or cough up the petals and flowers of a flowering plant that is growing in their lungs.

It will eventually grow large enough to render their breathing if left untreated.

Shikamaru was still in disbelief, even weeks after his doctor's appointment. He remembers every word the doctor told him, continuously replaying the scene over and over in his head.

Through a rare occasion, he had been diagnosed with Hanahaki disease. In his lungs, is a growing flower that will eventually grow big enough to block his whole airway. Basically suffocating him from the inside.

How tragic it is that it's a flower he, and the other, liked a lot.

He was told that there were three ways this disease will play out:

1. If the person returns his feelings, then the flower will eventually vanish from his body.

2. Have surgery to remove the plant, but he will no longer feel anything towards the person he loved.

3. The plant will continue to expand in his lungs, blocking his airway and eventually kill him.

It hurts to say but it's all because he fell in love with Naruto and it seems to only deepen at every passing day.

This was the confusing part though, how does his body know that his feelings is one sided? He never confessed to Naruto nor even have Naruto tell him he liked someone else. Naruto could also like him back!

. . .

No, he does know. With his annoyingly high IQ brain, he knows exactly how Naruto feels about him. He's just trying to pity himself at this point.

The way Naruto would soften whenever he was with Neji or the way Naruto would visibly brighten at the sight of him- it was all too noticeable.

His heart didn't want to believe any of it though. He got rejected without even getting rejected and it hurts him to know that he never stood a chance.

He hates the painful feeling of flowers coming out of his mouth while the twigs pokes his lungs.

Earlier, he made a plan to stay away from Naruto, as a way to lessen the tension in his body and keep the said boy from knowing about his disease. Not long ago, he started to cough up blood as well, which is pretty alarming.

He thought about avoiding his other friends as well but it was much harder to do so. There were times where he'd almost get caught throwing up but with his lying skills, he always manage to direct their attention elsewhere.

Though there were times where they were hesitant to believe him.

Avoiding Naruto was very hard also. He was like a magnet that attracts things easily, Shikamaru just wants to be with him. After many failed attempts, in the end, he gave up on his plan and continues to hangout with the bright boy.