Authors Note: Here is a ShikaSaku umm it's fluffy and OOC! So read it and review it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, so no suing!

Troublesome

He was a genius. He was always at least one step ahead of everyone else. Yet, he never noticed her. She was the one element that he always overlooked. The one person who could possibly rival him in genius, he overlooked the one girl that truly loved him.

Sure Temari liked him, but it would never work with the distance, he was really too lazy for that. And yes, Ino thought she liked him, but she was just a bit territorial, she didn't have any real feelings for him. No one truly loved the genius, except for her.

She never let it show, pretended to like other guys, but she found them too rambunctious, too messy, too loud, not very smart most of the time either. She had standards, no one else measured up.

Though he would probably never know it, she loved how he would stare at the clouds when something would bother him, she liked that she knew that about him.

Yet, for a genius he got hurt an awful lot. He was constantly in and out of the hospital. Maybe because he would risk his own life to save the other members of the team, after the whole rescue Sasuke mission, he realized that the lives of the team were more important than the mission. Some degraded him for it, said it was very ninja-esque for lack of a better word.

But whenever she treated him (which was often) she always made sure to tell him that he had done the right thing. Then he would smile slightly before turning away and muttering his catchphrase, "Troublesome."

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Sakura Haruno walked down the main street in Konoha towards the Hokage building. Tsunade had asked for her to come in and help with some paperwork. Stretching her arms above her head, Sakura sighed loudly and looked to the sky. It was probably the last time she would see the sky in daylight today.

A cloud caught her eye, and Sakura smiled slightly. She couldn't help but to be reminded of a certain lazy ninja. She also couldn't help that she might have had a little bit of a crush on him. Though her reasoning was slightly flawed, she convinced herself that she liked him because he was smart, and he put up a mean game of shougi. (sp?)

She was the only person he could never beat, because he could never predict her moves with logic, because though she was smart, she was a bit illogical.

Sakura kept staring up at the clouds as she walked, not watching where she was going, which wasn't a very good idea. THWACK. Sakura tumbled to the ground landing on her back. "Oww," she moaned in pain, so much for first class ninja skills.

A hand appeared in her face. Looking up Sakura realized who she had just run into. "Shikamaru!" A light blush dusted her cheeks. "Gomen, I wasn't watching where I was going!" Taking the proffered hand, Sakura stood up, not looking at Shikamaru in the eyes.

"It's okay, Sakura." Shikamaru said waving it off, before walking away. Though Sakura could have sworn she heard "Troublesome woman, she's going to hurt herself one of these days."

Giggling to herself for no reason, Sakura continued her walk to the Hokage building in considerably higher spirits than before.

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Walking out of the Hokage building Sakura groaned loudly. "I'm so tired," she complained to the empty night air… well almost empty.

"Sakura?" A voice questioned.

"Huh!" Sakura spun around in surprise seeing a certain someone leaning against the Hokage building. "Shikamaru? What are you doing here?"

If it had been a bit lighter Sakura could have seen Shikamaru blushing a little. "I was around here and figured you would be getting off soon, so I came to walk you home."

Sakura's heart started racing. "Y-you didn't have to do that you know." Please, please don't go away. Sakura prayed in her mind.

"I-it's okay, it's not out of my way or anything, besides it's not safe for you to walk home alone at night."

This made Sakura a little bit angry, "I am a ninja, I can take care of myself."

"I know you can, I just… just… Troublesome woman! Just let me walk you home!" Shikamaru all but yelled.

Sakura deflated, and smiled brightly at him. "Okay."

Shikamaru seemed a bit confused. "Okay?" He questioned.

Sakura started walking and turned to him, "Well? Are you coming or not?"

Shikamaru walked up next to her, "Of course I'm coming." They walked the rest of the way in silence. Each caught up in their own thoughts.

When they reached the front of Sakura's apartment building they turned to face each other. "Well…" Sakura started. "Thanks for walking me home. Before she lost her nerve she stepped towards Shikamaru and gave him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek.

Stepping back quickly Sakura ran up the steps to the door, before turning around, "Goodnight." She called before offering a quick wave and slipped in the door.

Shikamaru stood there in shock, his hand resting upon where she had laid the kiss on his cheek. "Goodnight," he whispered.

Sakura quickly ran up the three flights of stairs to her apartment, on a total adrenaline rush. Unlocking the door, she ran over to the window and threw the curtain open. Still outside standing there was Shikamaru, a hand touching his cheek. She looked at him for a minute or two before he slowly started walking in the direction of his apartment.

Once he was out of sight, Sakura closed the window and collapsed to the floor, adrenaline gone. What had she just done? Would he hate her now? No. She reasoned, probably not. Shikamaru wasn't really the type to hate anyone. But it might be kind of awkward around him after hugging him and all.

But it had felt so right, just for that one moment when her arms were around him, she wished he had put his arms around her too… No! She needed to stop thinking like that. There was no way that he would actually like her.

Picking herself up off the floor Sakura wandered into her bedroom and fell onto her bed, almost immediately falling asleep.

When she woke up the next morning, she awoke with a bright resolve. She wouldn't let what had happened bother her, she would act like nothing had happened, and hopefully he would do the same.

Taking a quick shower and eating breakfast. Sakura this time made her way to the hospital where she had to work the entire day, and then she was to be the doctor on call that night. Mentally sighing Sakura began to prepare herself for a long, long day.

It was.

Sakura groaned walking after she got out of the hospital at 6 A.M. The sun was just barely beginning to rise, and a layer of fog covered the quiet city of Konoha. It was a little creepy, Sakura admitted to herself, being alone this early in the morning.

Shaking off the general creepiness of it all, Sakura began the walk home in the sparsely populated morning. The only people who were up were the shopkeepers getting ready for a day of selling.

Shivering slightly in the chilly air, Sakura began to jog a little to warm herself up. She could have used her chakra to circulate her blood, yes, but she was almost out of chakra having used the majority to heal patients throughout the night.

As she jogged towards her apartment, she realized that the silence wasn't creepy, but peaceful. It was nice for life to be quiet for once. She could focus on life, she could truly see. It was… inspiring. She had to tell him her feelings. Otherwise she would regret it probably for the rest of her life.

But first, she needed some sleep.

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Surprisingly Sakura woke up around 3 in the afternoon. Maybe it was due to excitement, or maybe it had to do with the sun shining directly into her eyes. Whatever it was, it woke her up. Taking a shower, she spent longer then normal, almost dreading what she was about to do.

By the time she had eaten, it was 4:25. Perfect she thought to herself. I know just where to find him.

Sakura walked over to a sloping, yet high hill near the edge of the city. Climbing up it, Sakura wondered how he possibly did this everyday, even when he was wounded. When she reached the top though, she wasn't disappointed. He was laying there like always, arms supporting his head as he watched the clouds go by.

But, he wasn't looking at the clouds like usual, he was looking directly at her. "Sakura…" his voice was soft, and she doubted she would have heard it except for the small gust of wind that sent it her way.

"Shikamaru!" Sakura said startled. She hadn't expected him too see her so quickly. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you!"

"Sakura, I'm always up here at this time, you know that." He was walking towards her now. "You must have come up here for something." He was right in front of her now.

"Gomen-nasai, I'll be leaving now." Sakura turned away, tears welling in her eyes. She couldn't do this, she was too much of a coward.

When she was about to walk away, a hand grabbed her wrist. "Sakura, wait," his voice was commanding, she couldn't ignore him.

"H-hai," she said meekly looking up at him.

His eyes locked with hers, then he looked away and sighed. "Troublesome," he muttered, before looking at her again. "Sakura, I like you."

"What?" Sakura could hardly believe her ears. This was a joke… right?

"I mean I really, really like you." Shikamaru blushed slightly, looking uncomfortable.

Sakura looked away. "I guess that's a good thing… because I really like you too."

"Good." Then Shikamaru pulled her in for a hug. "You're going to be troublesome, I can tell."

End.

Aww wasn't that cute. Albeit completely OOC but that's okay it was fluffy, completely different from my last two angst stories. Anyways review!