In Sickness And Health ~Shikamaru~

Chapter 14

She's kissing me? She's kissing me! Why is she kissing me?! My mind was spinning and tossing back and forth as Reira's warm lips registared on mine. The feel was sweet and soft and warm and I was so confused. Reira, what does this mean? I gripped her arms and held her back from me, looking her over wide eyed. She showed confusion and reached up to cup my face with her hands. I was so confused, my thoughts running wild and for some strange reason, my thought process stopped.

All thought gave out and my body took over. I didn't care what it meant. I didn't care about the conflicting feelings I had earlier. All I cared about in that moment was Reira. I held her closer and kissed those sweet lips again, feeling her pause of process before she began to kiss back. It was quiet in the room. No sounds from the hall, no birds outside. Just us.

I had never held Reira before. It felt so great to hold her like that, her warmth against me, her soft arms around me. The kiss ended and I only held her tigher, putting a hand on her head, feeling her soft black hair. Reira held on to me, a feeling emanating from her that clearly read that she never wanted to let go of me again. How did you feel when Ino and Choji came back and I didn't? What does all of this mean? Why is this so damn confusing?

My conversation with Alsono came back to me. 'Or, is it because you have stronger feelings for her than you think?' What else had she said? 'You care about Reira more than you know.' Do I? How do I feel about Reira? I worry about her. Everyday I think about her and when I'm gone I wonder if anyone is talking to her. Is Alsono right? Do I have stronger feelings for her than I thought? 'Shikamaru, you're in love.'

No. I'm not in love. But I do care about Reira more than the friend I made her out to be. "I was... afraid... you'd never come... back." She said, gripping me harder.

"I will always come back, if anything to see you." She looked up at me, her face still tear stained and her eyes showing emotion for once. But I had to tell her about what happened. Which means I had to ruin our moment. "Reira, I need to talk to you." We sat on her bed as I told her everything that happened, beginning with being taken from the battle field and held prisoner. I told her about the rebels, her mother being their leader, and about how much she misses her. Reira's eyes stayed glued to the floor as she listened, and I don't really know if she could understand anything I was saying. But when I launched into everything her Mother said about her, how much she loved her, and how she still plans to come back to her, her eyes filled with tears once more.

She sat there and sobbed against me for what seemed to be hours but really was only a few minutes. This girl... she has been suffering for a long time, not just with a feeling of abandonment, but also with feelings of worry for her mother and loneliness. But thinking of that I had a spark of an idea. She wasn't lonely one bit that day I took her to Al's. And Al loves Reira like no other. Maybe that's just what Reira needs right now to calm down.

I held her shoulders so she would look at me. "Come on. Lets go see Alsono." I smirked and Reira's face lit up after her pause of process. Two troublesome women in one room? Not as bad as having to listen to Reira's crying and see the tears roll down her unhappy face.