𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐇𝐘𝐔𝐆𝐀 𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐍

Trouble at Home

A/N: I don't know the dates of everything that happened in the manga/anime so I'm sorta making up the timeline (date-wise, I mean). Kishimoto messed up a lot, I'm allowed to make up the dates.

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A few days later, Hanara and Shikamaru were leaving Choji's hospital room when the Nara started acting out of character.

"Uh, Hanara, I, uh, I- I need to tell you something..." he trailed off.

Hanara's eyebrows furrowed for a moment before she shrugged, "Sure, why not?"

Shikamaru started walking toward his favourite cloud-watching spot and Hanara followed him curiously as they walked in a silence that only could be described as awkward.

Finally, the two Chunin came to a stop and Shikamaru sat down, patting the grass to his left as an invitation for Hanara to sit beside him.

After a few seconds, Hanara spoke, "So? What's got you so tense?"

"I t-think I have a cushonfoo," Shikamaru said, mumbling the last part, looking determinedly at the grass, as if it had the answers to all the universe's problems.

'Nope! It's not what you think it is, Hana. Don't get your hopes up. That's just the recipe for heartbreak.'

"Huh?" Hanara questioned, "You have cushion food? What the heck is that?"

"No..." Shikamaru sighed, "I think I like... someone."

'How'd that turn into cushion food? Ohhhh maybe he said a name before... like Fu! Or... Yu? Definitely not me though,' she thought sadly, 'Why would he? I'm so snarky and pretty much ruin the point of having him on the team. He was meant to be the logical mind and instead they got me, too. And after what I told him a few days ago... there's no way he'd like me.'

"Will you tell them?" she asked.

"I don't know if she likes me," Shikamaru mumbled. Even telling her was taking a lot out of him.

"She'd be an idiot not to," Hanara smiled reassuringly, pushing back her dark feelings. Shikamaru needed help, dammit, and she sure as hell wasn't gonna let her feelings impede the support he needed.

"But she's so perfect. She's hardworking and accepting. She doesn't nag me to do things when there's time, but when she nags me, it isn't in a troublesome way. She isn't troublesome at all, and even if she was... she'd be worth the trouble," Shikamaru said, "Sometimes, I think I don't cooperate enough and that she thinks all I am is a lazy waste of space."

Hanara's face softened, and she placed her right hand under his chin, forcing it upwards so she could look him in the eyes, "Listen here, okay? You are not a waste of space. You are smart, brave, skilled, and most importantly, my best friend. Without you, who knows where Naruto would have gone? Who knows what Ino and Sakura would have gone through? Who knows how Kiba, Neji, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Choji, Neji, and I would have been? You are lazy, but you get your ass up when it counts. There's no way you're not good enough. In fact, if anything, she isn't."

Shikamaru stared at her, momentarily stunned.

"Look, if you really do like her, you need to tell her. Nothing's gonna happen if no one does anything."

'Hypocrite,' a voice inside her scoffed.

"You can do it," she smiled. And then, just in case she wasn't getting through to him, she wrapped her arms around him in a warm, encouraging hug.

Shikamaru tensed for a moment, but then slowly hugged her back.

"Whoever this girl is, she'd be crazy not to like you back," Hanara told him.