The Calm Before The Storm

Kick, punch and kiss

Naruto was enjoying working his body after not having trained or been on missions lately. Every kick, jump and punch felt great. He'd really missed this, he thought as he avoided yet another maneuver from his opponent. Heh, Shikamaru probably wouldn't like this very much. It would be fun to fight against him though because he wasn't really like his usual opponents. Shikamaru wasn't perhaps traditionally a very strong shinobi physically but his strength came from his mind that allowed him to use his techniques to the best of his abilities and analyze every situation perfectly. It also made him the perfect leader.

I wonder what he's doing right now, Naruto thought.

He then thought about the morning when Chouji had come by. More specifically he thought about the moment before that. When Shikamaru had said the comment about it being something you do for your girlfriend or boyfriend the first thought in Naruto's mind had been that wouldn't it be nice if that was the case. Right after realizing what he'd thought he had obviously blushed and barely managed to stammer out some lame reply.

Naruto really wasn't sure how to feel about all this. He'd always thought he was straight for one thing but the way he felt when Shikamaru had looked at him with those dark eyes of his... Naruto felt his cheeks heating up just remembering it. He tried to think about if anyone else had made him feel that way and Sakura came to mind but Naruto realized very quickly that he didn't like her that way. She was a very good friend but nothing more. Maybe he had liked her sometime earlier but somewhere along the line it had just become a habit to ask her out on dates since she wouldn't say yes anyway and he himself had been more focused on training to become stronger. In the end he really couldn't see himself with the kunoichi and wasn't even sure if he'd ever really liked her romantically. Shika on the other hand...

He couldn't even think about Shikamaru anymore without experiencing the fluttering in his lower stomach and feeling his cheeks heat up. Naruto's thoughts lazily wondered to Shikamaru's hair and how he wanted to run his fingers through them again. He thought about the lazy nin's smile or even his smirk and immediately felt the flutter get stronger.

I wonder how it would feel to kiss him...?

Naruto didn't even have time to get embarrassed at his thoughts before Lee performed his signature move and knocked Naruto to the ground.

It was a rather hard kick to be fair.

"Are you okay Naruto-kun?" Lee ran next to Naruto.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Naruto said while getting up.

"You seem very distracted today. Is there something on your mind?"

"What!? No! I'm just out of practice I guess... Hahah!" Naruto rubbed his neck and smiled a bit nervously at Lee.

"Hmm, is that so... Then, you should train even harder! With the full power of youth!" Lee gave Naruto a thumbs up and a dazzling smile. "Come, we'll start with 4000 push-ups and then we'll run around Konoha 300 times and after that we can do a few thousand sit-ups and then..." Lee continued on and on about the most ridiculous training program known to man. Naruto doubted no-one, perhaps with the exception of Lee himself, would even survive all that in one day.

"Naruto-kun, are you coming?" Lee asked after Naruto had remained silent for a moment looking a bit like a lost puppy in fear of rejection.

Naruto prepared mentally for the oncoming slaughter and announced, "Yosh! Let's do this! I'm ready!", since Lee was only trying to be a good friend and Naruto appreciated it immensely. He was forever grateful for having such good friends. And besides it might be a lot of fun!

---

After five and a half hours of the most intense training Naruto had had he was panting on the ground next to huge tree. Lee had just gone home for dinner so Naruto was left by himself.