It All Started With A Smell

Motivation

He pulled the blanket over his head, refusing to acknowledge the world. Unfortunately the world pressed in on him. The rattling of his door banged against his nerves, making him grind his teeth. The village was far too dark for him to get out of bed yet.

"Go away," He called, his voice coming out in a rough croak. Shikamaru wouldn't have dared to say that to his mother or father but he could tell by the heavy fist-falls on his door that it was neither of them.

"Shikamaru, it's time to wake up!" A high pitched voice yelled.

Great, it's both of them. Shikamaru sighed, peeking out from under his blankets as he heard his door open. Choji walked in with a wide smile, looking perfectly at home. Ino, however, tip-toed over the wooden floor, looking around curiously.

"Your room is surprisingly clean," She commented. "I thought boys were meant to be messy."

"It's too dark outside to be awake," Shikamaru muttered before he threw the blankets back over his head.

"It's nine in the morning," Choji retorted.

"It's my day off. Let me sleep."

"And to think, he's our superior now," Ino laughed.

Cold clung to Shikamaru's chest as the warmth of his blankets was ripped away from him. He glared at Choji as Ino gave a noise of disgust.

"Will you put a shirt on?"

"This is my room." Shikamaru rolled his eyes at the blonde. He flipped onto his stomach, cramming his pillow under his head.

"Shikamaru, get up, we want to train," Ino snapped.

The boy had no doubt that she was crossing her arms and that her left nostril was flaring just slightly like it did whenever she was annoyed. He was smart in not telling her that she was so predictable, and that the one nostril flare made her face look lopsided.

"Go, train, enjoy."

"We want to train as a team," Choji clarified, sounding amused. "We can't let Naruto surpass us when he comes back."

Shikamaru groaned, groping around for his blanket only to remember that Choji stole them. Opening one eye, he glared at his friend.

"Give me my blankets back."

"No, now get up and stop pouting."

"Why would I be pouting?" Shikamaru rolled back over onto his back, watching as his friends sighed.

"Fine." He stood, only to give Ino a blank look. "Will you leave?"

"Why would we leave? You'll probably just go back to sleep."

With amusement Shikamaru reached for the waistband of his pyjama pants, watching as Ino yelped, turning red before she spun on the spot, covering her face.

"Okay, I'm leaving." She ran from the room, nearly running into the doorframe after forgetting to uncover her face.

Choji chuckled, dropping Shikamaru's blankets onto the bed. "That was mean. She does realise boys wear underwear too, doesn't she?"

"Apparently not." Shikamaru waited for Choji to leave the room before changing into his training clothing, zipping the vest with a sigh. He quickly made the bed, which was made harder with the mess the blankets were in, before joining his friends out in the living room.

He let Ino drag him through the streets of the village. Apparently they were to have breakfast with Asuma-Sensei which just made Shikamaru wonder why they hadn't told him of their plans earlier. It still felt too early to be awake though. He kept his grumbling to a minimum, mainly because Ino dug her nails into his wrist whenever she became particularly annoyed. Either she had woken up in a bad mood or she didn't enjoy having to wake him up. Either way she was not in a good mood.