Week Days: A Shikamaru Nara Series: Monday

Week Days: A Shikamaru Nara Series: Thursday

I could feel him shifting beside me. This was a very rare opportunity that came into mine and Shikamaru’s schedules once every few months. Both of our nights were completely free. Usually he had some sort of mission to do or he needed to stay up doing paperwork. But every so often his schedule would be completely open and he always demanded that he sleep round mine. Never mind trying to better his own techniques or spending the night with his parents, he would rather sleep with me. I didn’t know whether to count this as him being sweet or just too lazy to deal with anything else.

He shifted yet again and let out a cough. He had been having small coughing fits all day, and i was starting to worry that he was getting sick. He groaned and i finally sat up. There was no way i was going to get any sleep with him shifting and moaning all night. I looked over at him; my worry was steadily rising at this point. His face was covered in sweat and parts of his hair were sticking to his face. I could just make out a faint red line running across his cheeks in the moonlight. I pressed my hand onto his forehead and quickly snatched it back. He was boiling. I carefully moved the covers from my side of the bed and got out. I quickly snuck into the kitchen and filled a bowl with cold water, putting a few ice cubes in to keep it that way. I grabbed a cloth from one of the cupboards and crept back into the bedroom. I dipped the cloth into the bowl and firmly rung it out. I placed the cloth on his forehead and stroked his cheek as he let out another moan. I picked up a book from my night stand and started reading. It was going to be a long night.

I spent the rest of the night reading books and occasionally re-wetting the cloth on his head. I had turned his alarm off and watched outside as the sun rose. Shikamaru had finally settled down and was peacefully resting. I put the press on thermometer on his forehead and sighed. His temperature had finally spiked and was starting to go down. He suddenly snorted a little and brought his hand up to his face. He cracked open his eyes and looked at me tiredly. I smiled and rubbed his cheek.

“Morning Shikamaru. How are you feeling?”

He groaned and slowly lifted himself up. He was still sweating and had a light blush across his cheeks.

“Like crap. What time is it?”

I quickly snatched the alarm clock away as he tried to reach for it. I threw it out into the hall and shoved him back down onto the bed.

“You don’t have to worry about the time. You’re sick, you’re staying in the bed for the rest of the day.”

He went to object but started a loud coughing fit instead. I took the cloth and dipped it back into the cool water. I pressed it onto his forehead and waited patiently for his coughing to stop.

“ Suki. I cant lay here all day, whether im sick or not. Im a chuunin. I have to go in for work.”

He tried moving again, but i just smacked his head and smiled. He started coughing again and i got up from the bed. Making sure to tuck the covers tightly round him again. I grabbed his chin and made him look at me.

“Listen to me Shikamaru. A messenger from Hokage building has already been and gone. They know you’re sick and don’t expect you to be on duty for another 2 days. So don’t worry about that. For next 2 days you can be as lazy as you want. And I have taken time off work so i can take care of you.”

He muttered a low troublesome under his breath. I sat back down and pulled his head onto my lap.

“Why don’t you take another nap and i will wake you in a little while so you can have something to eat”

He rolled over and nuzzled into my lap. The last thing i heard from him was a low grunt before his breathing evened out and he was dead asleep. I smiled and started running my fingers through his hair. His little outburst about needing to go to work surprised me a little. I thought he of all people would be ecstatic about getting some time off. It did make me smile to think that even though he complained nearly non stop about it. He did care about his work, about what he did.........Then again. It could have just been the fever making him talk crazy.