It's Not Forever *Shikamaru/OC/Gaara* (Book 1) COMPLETE

Chapter 9

    I walk out with my team and Gaara's, leaving the other ninja behind. I offer to cook for everyone tonight as a celebration for making it this far. They accept, but my team leaves to tell their parents about what happened. Kankuro shoots me a glare and stalks off, muttering something about better things to do. Temari and Gaara follow me to my apartment and Temari helps me clean up the remnants of the party held before we left. I'm glad the food was all gone that night so all that was left was dishes, drinks, and snack wrappers.
"So, what are you going to make?" She asks.
"Uhm, I was thinking that I have no idea."
She sighs and begins to search through my cabinets. She pokes her head out from behind a cabinet door a minute later and suggests making miso soup since it's relatively easy and we're all exhausted. I shrug and agree, then start to pull the ingredients out and set them on the counter. I move into the living room to turn on music to keep us entertained and smile at Gaara as I pass. He's sitting on the couch with his head rested on his fist.
"Cheer up Gaara-kun! We made it to the finals!" I cheer.
"Yeah." He replies with his same emotionless face. I roll my eyes and stick my tongue out at him before skipping back to the kitchen.
Temari wiped down the table and countertops for me and is slicing vegetables now. I bring out a saucepan and combine the other ingredients into it while it heats. I hear a knock on the door and ask Gaara to get it for me. My team walks in and Choji instantly hobbles into the kitchen.
"I know it smells good Choji, but if you're in here it won't cook as fast." I scold kindly.
"Aww, I know..." I hand him a cookie over my shoulder and he takes it before wandering back into the living room.
Ino comes in a moment later and sets the table for six. As I finish preparing the soup, I hear Ino and Temari gossiping in low voices across the room. I raise my eyebrow in interest but don't turn around. I focus my hearing on them and pick up bits and pieces.
"I think she likes Shikamaru... Gaara too? No, definitely not him... Maybe... We should! It'd be great! I hope it works..."
"I can hear you two, and whatever you're planning will not work. You saw me fight in the exams, I can easily turn on you two." I warn.
"Uh, we have no idea what you're talking about. We were talking about... Sasuke! Yeah, Sasuke." Ino stutters out.
"You two are hopeless."
I sigh and pour the soup into each of the bowls and arrange them around the table. I take some drinks from the fridge and set them on the mats before calling the boys to eat. Choji rushes in and claims a seat on the far end, Ino takes my normal seat at the head of the table, Temari next to her on the right, Shikamaru on the left, Gaara on the left by Choji, leaving me to sit between them. I glance down the table toward the girls to find them grinning and high fiving. I resist the urge to slam my face on the table and instead watch everyone eat. Choji breaks the silence by complimenting the food. I thank him and finish my bowl and stand to collect dishes. Shikamaru takes mine and the others before carrying them to the sink. Ino and Temari share a look and Ino holds up her pointer finger as a mock tally mark. Leave it to Shikamaru to be nice the one time Ino plans something... I get up and move next to him at the sink to help wash dishes.
"Why did you help out?" I whisper.
"I don't know. You cooked, so why not help?" He replies, giving me a strange look.
"You picked the worst time to be helpful, but thank you."
"What do you mean?" He asks and they give us a look before walking out.
"Shh! The girls have some weird plan involving me, you, and Gaara. I think they're trying to set me up with one of you and you made it worse by helping."
"So troublesome..." He sighs.
"Tell me about it."
We finish cleaning the dishes and put them away. When we turn around the girls are peeking around the corner at us and giggling. They see us notice them and hide around the corner.
"Told you." I mutter.
We both sigh and walk into the living room at the same time. I take my normal seat in the middle of the couch but Choji is sitting on the arm chair instead of beside me. Temari and Ino take the love seat so that leaves the empty seats beside me for Gaara and Shikamaru. The two sit down causing the girls to dissolve into giggles again. Gaara turns to me with a questioning look and I just shake my head.
"I know what you two are up to, Shikamaru does too. I've explained it to you several times Ino, so this plan is pointless."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." She chirps.
"I want to rip your heads off right now. Very tempting actually..." I smirk.
"You love us though. You may even love..." She cuts off to giggle. "Other people?"
I roll my eyes and pull a kunai from my pouch. I spin it around my finger then let it go, watching as it embeds into the wall exactly two inches above their heads. They squeak and stare up at it.
"Oops. Must've slipped." I shrug and give them an innocent smile.
"Okay, we'll let it go for now, but we know there's something there for someone."
"If you say so ladies. So where are you three going to train for the month? Suna I assume?" I ask, turning to Temari.
"Yeah. What about you and Shikamaru?"
"Asuma is training me." Shikamaru replies, sounding like he's going to dread it.
"I have no idea what I'm doing." I say, now standing on the back of the couch to hand the new pictures from the party.
"Can no one around here train you?"
"They could, I just don't really need it. Besides most of the jonin will be busy training the others and none of them specialize in sound jutsu like I do. I don't mind."
I feel something tickle my ankles and look down to find sand wrapping around them to keep me from falling. I hear the girls giggle and glance over to find Temari holding up a tally mark as well.
"What about your family?" Temari asks.
I hear Ino gasp and I feel her giving me a worried look.
"Ino, stop being so dramatic. I live alone." I say simply with a shrug.
Temari looks curious but bites her tongue and instead asks if I'd like to come to Suna with them to train.
"I don't want to be in anyone's way."
"You won't be! Come on, it'll be fun!"
"I suppose I can go. Will you guys be okay without me?" I ask, turning to my team.
Shikamaru shrugs, Choji nods, and Ino looks like she's going to cry. I roll my eyes and turn back to Temari.
"I need to get permission from the Hokage first, but when are we leaving?"
"In the morning. We're going to find Kankuro and talk to Baki. We'll meet you here at dawn."
I nod and hug them both before they leave. I hang out with my team for a few minutes before following them out. Ino volunteers them all to walk with me to the Hokage's office, so we're all together for a little longer. I don't trust her...
"Choji! Look over there! That thing over there is so cool! Let's go look at it!" Ino drags Choji away to who knows where, poor guy, leaving Shikamaru and I alone.
I turn to Shikamaru who has the same annoyed look on his face that I'm sure I have. He looks down at me and sighs. I mutter that one day I'm going to kill her and he nods in agreement.
"If you tell her you don't like me, she'll leave this alone."
"Do you honestly think that'd work on her?" I can hear the doubt in his voice.
"It's worth a shot." I shrug.
"Women are too troublesome, especially the two of you." He mutters, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"I understand Ino, but what's wrong with me?" I ask, turning to walk backward in front of him and pout.
"That." He replies, giving me a pointed look."
"You're troublesome yourself there Mister."
"How is that?"
"You never say how you feel, you just complain about everyone else."
"My complaining should explain it all."
"You're difficult." I say, giving up on it. Let him complain about everything, see if I care.
"Naturally."
I roll my eyes and knock on the door of the Hokage's office. The door opens and we're allowed inside. The Hokage is behind the large wooden desk flipping through several files. He looks up at us and smiles, a slight twinkle in his eyes like the one seen when people think you're a cute couple. Why does everyone think we like each other?!?!?
"Hello Kaida, Shikamaru, what can I help you with?"
I bow before speaking to the man. "I was wondering if I could get permission to travel to Suna to train for the exams. I would like to train with Baki's team."
"Ah, yes. Baki came to talk with me a moment ago. He's talked to the Kazekage and has gained permission for you to stay in Suna. I will allow you to go, but do not cause any sort of trouble while you are gone."
"Hai, thank you Hokage-sama."
He smiles and signs the papers to allow me to be accepted in the village and hands them to me. I thank him again before the two of us head back out into the village.
The sun is starting to set, turning the sky a beautiful mix of colors that look like fire. The clouds are light and fluffy and are slowly drifting across the sky. I turn to find Shikamaru's eyes trained on them. He looks nice like that, the way the sun hits him and lights up his eyes, the relaxed posture he takes on, it's nice. I force those thoughts back and nudge him slightly and ask if he wants to watch for a while. He shrugs and I lead him off toward the woods. I lead him down through the trees and into my clearing, the one with the pond and waterfall.
"What is this place?" He asks, taking it all in with slight awe in his voice.
"I found it years ago, shortly after I'd come here, when I decided to live alone. I come here for inspiration or when I don't want to be found."
"Is this where you went a few months ago when you disappeared for three weeks?"
"Yeah." I reply, not meeting his eyes. "I just had to get away. It's my safe place. If I can't be found, I'm probably here unless I'm dead or kidnapped, or both. You never know."
"That's a way to look at it I suppose."
I laugh and take his hand, dragging him up the rocks and onto the outer one where I like to relax. We lay back and I feel the warmth from the sun radiating from the rock underneath. We watch the clouds drift by in silence and remain that way as the light turns fully into night. My mind flits from one thought to another for a while without anything staying.
"The past few days have been the most you've ever spoken to me, you know that?" I state.
He looks over at me. "Hm, I suppose. Choji is my best friend, and you're more bearable than Ino is. You can actually be normal sometimes."
"I'll take that as a compliment." I mutter. "Why'd you let me sleep on you all those times?"
"I was asleep too for the most part, so I couldn't stop you. But in general I figured it wasn't hurting anything."
"I'm glad to have you as a friend. Ino's my best friend, but sometimes it's great to have someone to relax with and talk about something other than my lack of a love life."
"She doesn't have much room to talk on that subject."
"Don't tell her that." I say, chuckling lightly. "In her mind, I'm going to die old and alone unless I start to date you or Gaara now, because the two of you are totally in love with me and I'm madly in love with both of you. She's delusional, I swear."
"She's honestly probably worried about you when she's not around. You don't hang out with anyone besides her and myself on occasion."
"Friendships and relationships are two different things though."
"I know. Just humor her and say you have a crush just don't name anyone. Keep her guessing and happy." He suggests.
"She'd tire of that and try to make me fall in love with you again."
"Again?" He questions. My eyes grow wide and I feel my face warm.
"I-I said that wrong."
"I'm telling Ino."
"She won't leave you alone if you do." I remind him with a smirk.
"Fine." He grumbles in response.
I stick my tongue out at him before rolling over toward him and resting my head on his chest. I close my eyes and start to drift off until I feel a push in my head. I block it out and open my eyes. I tell him that Ino tried to talk to me and he sighs in response. Something he'd said earlier reemerges in my head and I sigh before sitting up.
"Shikamaru, I hadn't been totally honest with you. When I'd arrived in Konoha as a child I ended up living with the Uchiha. It was nice and Itachi and Sasuke had become my brothers, I was closer to Itachi than with Sasuke. When he killed everyone, I stayed in the compound with Sasuke to try to help him but he started to lash out against me until he threw me out, said I was a worthless burden. That's when I stayed on the streets for a while. I would've died if it wasn't for whoever left the baskets for me... But I just felt bad about not telling you that part whenever I'd told you everything else... Also, I saw Itachi the night before the exams. I'd come here cause I couldn't sleep, well can't sleep ever really, and he showed up with some other guy. We ended up fighting and he left but I don't know where they are now."
"Are you okay?" He asks.
"I'm fine. I just fell in the water."
"Good. You're welcome by the way." He says, sitting up.
I raise an eyebrow and turn to him. "For what?"
"I left the baskets for you. I kept an eye on you whenever I could and never saw you eating. You got sickly thin so I nicked food from our house at random and made baskets for them. I didn't realize until we were in the academy that it was you I'd been looking after." He explains, and his face tints pink.
"You really did that? I- thank you for looking out for me, then and now."
"It's whatever. It would've been troublesome to watch you die and all."
I roll my eyes at his excuse and lean over to kiss his cheek. He blushes again and I laugh. I nudge him again before standing up and stretching. He does the same and while he's stretching, I swiftly push him off the rock. I laugh until his hand latches onto my forearm and he pulls me with him. I squeal as we hit the water and I'm engulfed in the cold. I break the surface and laugh as he does the same with a scowl on his face. He smirks at me and I stick my tongue out before splashing him.
We swim around for a moment, mainly splashing each other, before getting out and heading back into town. It's around 11 o'clock atleast, judging by the lights being off at the hooker's apartment. I unlock the door and invite him in to dry off a little. He follows me in and I lock the door behind us. We head into my bathroom where I toss him a towel and take one for myself. I move back into my bedroom to find dry clothes and set them on the bed so I can take a shower after he leaves. Shikamaru steps out of the bathroom trying to dry his hair with the towel.
"I blame you, troublesome woman. Now I'm all wet."
"You'll survive Shika-kun. It's getting late. I'm sure you're tired."
"Not really, but you need to rest, you have to leave in a few hours."
"I know, but I don't sleep. I'm going to miss you though."
"It's only a month." He reminds me.
"That's forever." I whine.
"Only if you make it that way."
"Will you miss me?" I ask, fluttering my eyelashes.
"I'll enjoy the silence."
"You're so mean."
"I hear that a lot."
I stick my tongue out at him before hugging him and resting my head on his shoulder. His arms wrap around me in return and we stand there quietly for a moment.
"I don't know what I'd do without you..." I whisper quietly.
He doesn't respond, but I feel his hold on me subtly tighten.
"Your mother is going to murder you if you don't go home soon."
"I know. I need to go. Be careful while you're gone, it'd be rather annoying if you died."
"I thought I'd go in there setting fires and decimating homes, all the usual. I'll be fine, I promise. Train hard Shika-kun, you never know who you'll end up fighting."
We walk together into the living room where we say goodbye and I watch him leave before locking the door behind me.