How Troublesome

Chapter 16: Aggravating Assassins

Shikamaru stared up at the ceiling of his room.

It had been days since the last assassination attempt on Kotone's life at the training ground, and now it was her birthday. He knew there was going to be another attempt on her life today. It was the perfect opportunity. There would be large crowd, people milling around everywhere, loud noises, and tons of places to hide and blend in with the crowd.

Takeshi had tried to cancel the celebration, not caring about the fact that it would alert the civilians that something was wrong, but Shikamaru had managed to convince him to let everything go as scheduled. Shikamaru had everything planned. They were having a sort of parade through the village, and Kotone would be in it. Naruto would be right by her side the whole time. Shikamaru would be following them from either the rooftops or moving through the crowd. Naruto would alert him in she saw anything and protect Kotone in the event that someone tried to attack.
He in turn would take down the assassins if, make that when, Naruto saw them. It was simple, but he knew it would work.   At the moment, he was waiting for Naruto and Kotone to finish dressing so that they could start. He turned his head, glancing out the window at the clouds moving by and let his mind wander. If everything went according to plan, then the mission would be finished, and they'd be going home the next day, back to Konoha.

He frowned. He should be happy about that, or at least relieved. But that meant that he wouldn't get to spend as much time with Naruto. How would things change? Would they even hang out at all? There was another thing that was bothering him. Well, not exactly bothering him; in fact, he liked it, but it was confusing. And he was a genius for Kami's sake!

Naruto had been sleeping in his bed every night since she had come in with the shogi board. They stayed up talking for a while, and then she just slept there, cuddled up against him. What the heck did it mean? He felt like pulling his hair out, except that would be too bothersome. It had to mean that she liked him, right? But she'd said she liked him as a friend. A friend. Not as a potential romantic interest. And he was too cautious to ask her. He liked how things were at the moment, and he didn't want to ruin it.

He banged his head on the headboard. Who was he kidding? He wasn't being cautious; he was scared of what would happen. Emotions were so troublesome...

A knock sounded at the door, and then a moment later it slid open, revealing Naruto.

Shikamaru's eyes widened. She looked... beautiful.

She wore a pale orange kimono with blue dragonflies on it with a dark orange obi. Her hair was loose, and it looked like Kotone had managed to make her wear a little make-up, emphasizing her large blue eyes and cupid's bow lips.

She shifted uneasily under his gaze. "I didn't want to wear one, but Kotone found this one in orange. She was pouting, too. Do you like it? I'm not really used to wearing this sort of thing."

Shikamaru nodded hurriedly, "You look great. I mean... wow." He looked at her closer. Was she blushing? That had to mean that she liked him, right?

She moved farther into the room, somehow managing to look like she was gliding as she moved, and said, "Are you ready for this? Kotone's waiting for us."

He nodded, rolling off of the bed, and tried to stop staring at her. She just looked so beautiful. Apparently, he was moving too slow for her liking, because she grabbed his hand and dragged him from the room. "Come on! Everything's scheduled, and we don't want to keep anyone waiting!" He ignored her scolding and tried to ignore how soft her hands were with much more limited success. Man, he had it bad. He had to get it together.

Kotone was waiting for them by the door, looking very pretty in a soft green kimono with golden sparrows on it. She shot Shikamaru a look after glancing at Naruto and his joined hands but didn't say anything about it.