𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐒 ― n. shikamaru ✗

Chapter 11

Anxiety.

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"Let go of me, you psycho bastards!" Akahana snarled, "why are doing this?" Shikamaru watched as Akahana screamed at the ANBU ruthlessly. "You're...you're gonna regret this! That man is still there! He's gonna-"

"Hana," Shikamaru called, using the nickname from when they were children. Akahana turned her head slightly to meet the eyes of the strategist. She shook her head, "stop them! They're making a mistake!"

Akahana pulled her body back, causing the two ANBU holding her arms to stumble. Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose, "maybe this was a bad idea. She doesn't want to leave her cell."

Shikamaru stared at Akahana, "maybe she's afraid of not being able to control herself." Tsunade nodded, "I thought I took the substances out of her chakra stream, but I guess not." It's not even possible to get it fully out of system, she'll die.

"Chakra stream?"

"Yeah, it was black, like the being Ino told me about," Tsunade replied, keeping her eyes trained on Akahana. She looked at Shikamaru, "get her out of there. I'm getting a headache."

He gulped as he looked at the thrashing girl. "But that's too much work..." he muttered before walking over to Akahana, placing a hand on her shoulder.

—

My god, Shikamaru thought as he looked over at Akahana. She's almost as bad as my mom and Temari combined! He turned to see Akahana staring at herself in the mirror, leaning towards it and shutting one eye. Her outfit was given by Tsunade because of her old one ending up torn and unfixable. 

Her new one consisted of navy shinobi pants with fishnets underneath rising up past her belly button, a cropped, tight black top and the normal sandals. Her hair she fixed into its regular pigtails, her bangs resting on her forehead and framing her face.

It was more than a task to get Akahana out of her cell. She may be small, but she can make anyone's life more difficult. 

He smiled though. He smiled because Akahana might be able to let go. He's fixed on thinking she can let go and move on, his faith in her pure and strong.

Akahana looked herself in the mirror, curious, but uninterested. She held herself from smashing the mirror to pieces, instead, she turned to Shikamaru, her red eyes glowing with a different type of emotion. 

"We should go, there's a lot I want to revisit," it was a half-lie on Akahana's part. She wanted to go back to the rooftop and stay there, but also, stay within the confines of her cells, where she was certain she won't create harm.

"Okay," he threw her a half smile, "you troublesome woman." She didn't know if it was the nickname he gave almost every woman or the half smile-smirk thing, but, one of the two made heat rise to her pale cheeks. 

She stuck out her bottom lip and crossed her arms as she walked past Shikamaru, flustered. Shikamaru grabbed her shoulder, "that's the wrong direction." 

"I was going to turn that way!"

"Whatever you say," he moved his hand to his pocket before walking opposite from Akahana, who turned around and followed.

"So," Shikamaru said, breaking the silence, "what do you want to do?" Akahana shrugged, "rooftop." The male was hoping that was all. When they were younger, he was ruthlessly dragged around by Akahana, and it tired him out. But something told him it wouldn't be fair if he hogged Akahana.

"I think we should have dinner with everyone," he suggested. Akahana raised her eyebrow, "are you really suggesting to do something like that? Usually, you just wanna sleep and cloud gaze."