No Longer Weak

The Story

Third Person POV:

Watching the stars with Shikamaru was always a treasured moment for Sakura. They would just sit there, with her in between his legs and gaze at the million stars glittering away. Sakura smiled remembering the first time they had gazed at them.

"What are you smiling about?" whispered Shikamaru and his breath was warm on her neck. "You remember the first time we star gazed?" she smiled cheekily and turned her head to look at him. He chuckled slightly. "How could I forget?"

**************Flash Back************

Sakura was on her way to check on the work Shikamaru was doing. It wasn't that she didn't trust him; she just wanted to make sure that Shizune didn't have to search for her again. As hurt, as she was she couldn't forget about the people that were still with her. She didn't wish them any harm, especially not a headache just because the lazy genius couldn't stop complaining.

Walking quietly through the dark and quiet Hokage Tower Sakura looked left and right before opening the door to the office that has been hers. She was surprised at finding Shikamaru sitting in his chair facing the window and watching the stars with his hands folded behind his head.

"So you come often?" he asked her without turning around. Ignoring his question she closed the door behind her. "How come you are still here?" she questioned back and wandered towards him. Stopping right beside him, she leaned her backside on the desk and looked also out of the window. "Wanted to see if the rumors were true that you checked my office at night."

She crossed her arms over her chest unhappy. "Nothing wrong with checking if you do your work," she said defiantly. There was a moment where they just stared out of the window watching the stars glittering. "It's beautiful tonight" whispered Sakura.

Shikamaru glanced at her from the corner of his eye and gave a lazy smirk. "Yes, it is." So they sat together watching the stars, neither really noticing how utterly comfortable they were at the moment. After what seemed like hours Sakura stood up and was ready to leave when his voice stopped her. Looking over her shoulder she gazed into his glittering brown eyes and the warm smile that was visible in them made her smile in return. "Good to know that you still care" he whispered and with a nod she vanished into the darkness of the tower and his door closed with a quiet click.

"You know," said Sakura while her fingers danced over the arms that were firmly wrapped around her middle. "From that moment I thought that you had the eyes of a cute doe."

"A doe? Sakura please, if you have to call me cute call me a cute stag than I'm still male" he said.

**********Back to Choji & Ino***************

Ino looked at Choji. "So they started to gaze at the stars together?" Choji smiled at his friend. "They never planed it but that didn't stop it from happening."

"What happened then?" She wanted to know where this was leading; well she knew where it was ending and so on. "Oh, one day Shikamaru asked her to play Shogi with him. She was a bit reluctant because she had never played before but he was very patient. Told her the rules and made sure that she understood them all. The first time they played is famous."

He laughed at the memory. "They had started playing in the morning in front of the Hokage Tower. It was a busy day and ninjas were walking in and out of the Tower all day. I think it was Lee who attracted the attention to the fact that they were still playing in the afternoon."

"Till afternoon?" said Ino surprised. "I can't remember a time when he played that long even with Asuma sensei!"

"Yeah it was the best game he ever had he said afterward. You know how Lee is he started to scream something about youthful and longtime games. It attracted the attention of Neji who was sitting down beside them and watching their game. The three smart asses were sitting there and staring at a silly shogi board. Well and since Neji was there Hiashi Hyuuga got notified and came looking, and so it went on and on until everybody was watching them. They were in a bit of a clinch because they could both win with the exact amount of moves. They totally ignored the tips and tricks that were shouted at them. I think what made it most famous was that Tsunade came marching out of the tower and demanded to know why nobody came if she asked for them; not even the messengers would return."

Ino blinked and tried to imagine how it had looked like. Smiling sadly she realized that she had missed some very important parts of the lives of her two best friends. "So Tsunade-sama ruined the game?"

"I think busted would be the better word", Choji chuckled. "She created a bit of a mess when she made a crater appear to get the attention of everyone. And that she got because the shogi board fell right into it. Tsunade was made very aware that a lot of angry ninjas weren't the best idea so she went into Hokage mode and the field cleared, but not before Sakura and Shikamaru had looked back at each other and started laughing. Nobody knew why they were laughing but in the end, it was all clear. They could never have finished that play so it was the best way. Secretly I think it was the moment that Sakura laughed and thanked Shikamaru for the day and the game that made the day so famous. She hadn't seemed that content for a very long time."

"And what happened then?"

"I think it became very obvious around Christmas when Sakura was promoted to Jounin that the two of them had a thing for another, well obvious to everyone but them."

Shikamaru watched Sakura bustling around in their kitchen. She wore that lovely red dress that had made him go crazy on more than one occasion. His eyes followed her every move. This dress was really one of his favorites. "What are you staring at me? Do I have something on my backside?" scolded Sakura and whirled around threatening him with a wooden spoon. "No" he drawled lazily. "So you have something to complain about? First, you ask me to go out for dinner and I'm all dolled up but you can't move your lazy ass!"

He smiled at her while she whipped her bangs out of her face. Her short pink tresses really suited her. "Just admiring the dress love."

"You have known that dress for forever."

"Yeah but the first time seeing you had always been the best one", he smirked at her and winked suggestively. "Christmas right?"

Shikamaru was really too lazy for his own good. Since arriving at the party he sat on the couch and didn't move a muscle. He knew that it was Sakura's congratulation party to becoming Jounin but really he was just so tired.

"Boring?" said a voice from above. Opening his eyes he looked into Sakura's upside down face. Her green eyes were sparkling and slightly glassy. She had to drink with everybody who congratulated her so far, and boy, who had thought that this many people would fit into her apartment?

Shikamaru smiled at her. "Congratulations." She rolled her eyes at his lazy drawl and plopped down beside him. "Thanks. Feel's great to get out of chunin."

"And what is next?"

"ANBU of course!" He looked at her and really saw her for the first time this evening. She looked breathtaking in the small red dress that hugged every curve of her body. "You look good woman."

She giggled. "I will take it as a compliment. But you don't look so bad yourself man." He poked her teasingly and together they shared a good laugh because of their childish antics. Afterwards, they started to talk about God and the world.

For Shikamaru, it was a conversation that told him more about Sakura than anything else. She had her own principles and followed them no matter what situation. During their very long chat, they ignored the rest of the party, flirted quietly a bit with each other and wouldn't even notice that they were constantly touching each other.

Shikamaru smiled down at Sakura who fell asleep on him with her arms wrapped around him and her head resting on his chest. Maybe this one wasn't such a troublesome woman.

He looked up a Kurenai who was the last one to leave. "Treat her right Shikamaru."

He watched confused as she smiled at them and walked out of the door. What did she mean with that? He shrugged his shoulders and got an angry grumble from Sakura. Closing his eyes he smiled to himself. Just tonight he would stay here.

"You snored that night so much I was surprised your neighbors could tolerate you!" he said cheekily and ducked before the spoon could hit him. "I did not snore!" she screeched and stalked to him. Bending down so that she was on eye level with him she poked him in the chest. "You mister were the one to snore like a banshee."

**********Back to Choji & Ino***************

Ino raised an eyebrow. "So they did nothing but dance around each other? When did they notice that they had fallen in love?"