summer clouds - shikatema

missing piece

hi weebs i just took an english test and failed it but lets see what my teacher thinks of my english now HAits still bad

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Several weeks passed, and Shikamaru made sure to keep himself busy to distract his mind from that missing piece of his. He smoked a lot, but she always found him in his dreams.

Shikamaru often dreamed of Temari forgetting who he was or storming out on their friendship. They were long and painful dreams that were nothing like the previous one he'd had; the one with the potted plants. 

The most annoying part was that it wasn't even like they were together or involved romantically in any way, so she was never his to lose. She made sure to tell him that; and he knew it too. Even if it was troublesome, things would end up badly if they were to be together. It was only reasonable, since the two of them were both important figures of their individual villages. It was simply political.

Obviously, Shikamaru had had crushes before; it was a part of growing up. In the Academy he wasn't really concerned with any of the girls in his class, but as a Genin he had about a month-long crush on Ino. He still laughs at it to this day. As a Chunin, he had a short crush on TenTen for basically no reason besides the fact that he found her pretty.

What was strange was that he'd never really had a crush on Temari... at least, he didn't think so. She did nothing but make fun of him and she was scary as hell. Temari was so unpredictable and, in the past, could easily beat him up if she tried hard enough. So there really wasn't anything that he could have been romantically attracted to besides her looks. The most he'd ever thought of her before the war was a friend or trusted comrade.

But now...

Things were so much different. It was hard to put into words how differently he felt about her. Temari was strong, beautiful, and she was one of the only people that could keep up with his intelligence and quick wit. "This is unfair..." Shikamaru sighed to himself. He didn't want to feel like this. Romance was a drag. It had always been a drag and it would continue to be one for as long as it existed. Love was silly and stupid and it was disgusting when he saw people broadcasting it on the street. He hated anything to do with romance, so why should he long for it? It was all just a big pain.

He got up early in the morning and did nothing but train for hours on end, trying to bring his mind somewhere else, and then he would go on a mission if he had one. Sometimes he would help run errands for Kakashi or even offer to do things for him. He just wanted to forget about Temari, then everything would be normal again.

A normal, just-right life; that was all he wanted. And one thing after another, his just-right life kept getting farther and farther away from him.

About two months after he'd last seen her, Shikamaru was going for a walk. He had no missions to go on and there was nothing to do for Kakashi. Normally he would be delighted by hearing this, but these times were different. He kept his head down and his mind was reluctantly focused on work-related things.

"Shikamaru." He heard a voice from in front of him; he glanced up to see a blonde girl wearing a purple crop top and a long purple skirt blocking his path. Ino.

"Hey, Ino. What's up?" He asked, confused.

"Nothing much. Let's sit down and talk, shall we?" Ino grabbed his wrist and dragged him over to a bench on the side of the street. She put her hands in her lap and looked at him intently.

"What the hell is going on with you?"

Startled by her blunt approach, Shikamaru's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"