Hello, welcome. This is actually my first fanfiction. It was intended to be a oneshot, but no! Overflowing creative thougthts just HAD to keep going, so this is probably going to end up being a two or three-chapter long short story.
I know I know: Shikamaru and Tenten? Wha? Yeah honestly, I wasn't prepared for it either. Crack pairing, yes. I was just browsing through the Naruto section, randomly clicking in characters to see if anyone's made fictions of even the craziest pairings or so. Like EbisuxGaara (btw, I will cry of laughter if someone actually makes a fiction of that pairing! And you will have my respect if it's well-written : ). So, among them was 'Shikamaru N. & Tenten' and to my surprise I found that there have been stories written about them together. And after reading Wielder of paperclip's 'First,' I instantly fell in love. And it hit me, Wow they can happen.
So yeah. As my first fiction, there's probably lots of mistakes, AND I PROBABLY PUT THE CHARACTERS OUT-OF-CHARACTER SO FORGIVE ME, blah blah blah, it's 2:11 AM and in about two hours I leave for a vacation. If anyone has any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, I will be more than happy to hear.
Without further adeu, I present In Thin Air - Chapter One.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of Naruto. Oh damn I wish I did!
"I have something to tell you."
Tenten suppressed her urge to raise an eyebrow. Whatever he wanted to say, it must have been something that he's had to mull over before bringing it up, instead of being straight-forward and saying it as easy as breathing air.
Because that's what Shikamaru usually does. Speak his words like air.
And for some reason, just the change of habitual speech was making the air around her (little did she know it was all around them) was seemingly tense, though miles away from being tense enough to want to make her get up and walk out of the tea shop.
She almost wished he hadn't spoken at all. Just kept quiet and finished his tea and snacks; probably make small talk about the mission they had just completed. Or about what they were going to do after returning to the Leaf village. Anything that wouldn't make her feel anywhere along the lines of edgy.
It was weird. He hadn't even said what he had to tell her yet. And already he was making her nervous.
Only he can make you this worked up so fast.
Timidly—but casually, she picked up a dumpling by her toothpick and bit a small morsel of it, taking in its sweetness in attempt to calm her nerves and prepare herself for whatever worse. Chewing softly, she replied. "What's on your mind?"
Shikamaru took a small breath and took his own toothpick to help himself of the snack. The medium-sized dish in the middle of their table was getting half-empty. Being not much of a sweet tooth, he was glad that she was eating most of the dish. But it was probably because he was a slow eater.
It took him a little more time than needed to down his dumpling. After all the hours given to him the day before, he still contemplated whether he was going the right direction or not.
"Well, this is going to sound really off-color, especially coming from me."
He was stalling, and he knew it.
Why wasn't it going as easy as he had planned?
Planned, tch, so much for pretending it would be simple.
Tenten may not have been as knowledgeable in reading people as her old teammate Neji, but it was clear as water the uneasiness was getting to him more than it was her.
But one thing about Tenten was that she was clever. Maybe her intelligence wasn't as regarded as the Nara boy in front of her was, but she could tell right off the wall that whatever he wanted to say was something that he just couldn't take as lightly as air.
It was actually… cute. The way he was really taking his sweet time. That bit was actually helping her side of the situation, for she wasn't as tensed anymore.
"Anytime now, Shikamaru," she teased.
After two gulps of his getting-lukewarm tea, he set down his cup, still in his hand. With a brave look straight into her big brown eyes, he said the first thing that came to mind. "We're a really great team together. We should pair up more often."
That's it? After all of this time—all of this restlessness and him making her feel uneasy, that was all he could muster up?
Surely there was more. She could sense it. She had sworn she knew he had something a little more important to say.
Why was she feeling so unsatisfied? His response may have seemed like it was pulled out of his ass but it was getting on her nerves how… unfulfilled she was left with.
Somewhere in her heart she felt… empty, and hanging.
Being one to approach the calmer way out first, she only blinked and let a small sigh at his statement. The snack dish was emptying, which meant that it was nearing time for them to continue their journey back to the village. "You really think so?" she asked.
"I do," he sipped his tea, "I mean you and I both have vast abilities in two different fields of shinobi skills. Kinda sad that we didn't start teaming up for the same missions until we became Jonins. We'd have done pretty damn well at finishing the jobs."
He was shifting the subject, and the atmosphere along with it. She could only follow along.
"That, and you're real easy to work with. You always have a way to work with my plans. Usually when I have to come up with the plan (which is always more times than he'd like to) I gotta think around more so I have a plan for everyone," he continued.
Tenten looked up to see his expression. He was being honest, that much she could tell. Knowing this made her cheeks tinge a bit. Biting back a blush at the compliment, she reached out and poked her toothpick at another sweet, bringing back the snack closer to her mouth.
"That's because," she took another bite of her dumpling, "it's too troublesome to think around more for you. So of course I have to make it easy for you!" Tenten chewed happily, echoing her remark in her head. Shikamaru's expression softened a bit, taking in her teasing.
"I still make thorough strategies, so I can't be that lazy."
"But if you didn't have to think more to develop a plan, you wouldn't."
Touché. "Can't say I would. But still, since I do make most of the plans anyway I still can't help but have to outstretch the plan to make sure it really gets the job done. The best way to make the mission end easier is to put a role for everyone. Doesn't Kakashi always put teamwork as first and best? Must be why he's so good at what he does. Okay, except for Naruto and them since the whole deal with Sasuke and all."
Yes, it was best to just leave that part of the topic where he did. The discussion of Team 7's tragedies was a headache to even reflect on. Tenten could only imagine what Shikamaru went through when he had to lead a mission to search for the hard-headed Uchiha, as his first mission too.
A thought suddenly crossed her mind, cutting through everything she had just reflected on. A warm feeling rose in her, making her smile. After a healthy swig of her tea, she said, "You're good too. At what you do."
Shikamaru paused, raising an eyebrow, "What d'you mean?"
Another swig, "I'm not really talking about your genius skills and all—because face it: we all know you're good at that. But what I mean is, that even though you're lazy and you know it, you still go through with your duties. Like even though you say you wouldn't think more into developing strategies if you didn't have to, but you're right—you still do so. You think more for the mission and the people in your squad than you do yourself.
"Yeah, I know. That's what a leader has to do, watch everyone's backs and all. But I like how since you understand all of this, it enables you to not let your emotions and needs get in the way of everything. Makes you seem like the ideal shinobi, you know: mission first, do whatever it takes to get the job done and still have everyone's good side of their consent from start to finish. I admire that."
For a moment Shikamaru let himself go in Tenten's words. Contemplating, reflecting, and studying everything she said. He smirked, outside and inside. After one last bite of the dumpling still stuck on his toothpick he tossed the stick onto the dish. Taking a drink of his now-cool tea, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"You know… the way you make the 'ideal shinobi' sound, you make me sound pretty cool. Thanks." With that, he finished the last of his beverage and set his cup on the table, making a satisfied clank sound on the table from the cup's impact.
Tenten hummed a grateful 'Mmm' and ate the last snack on the dish. She looked at the clock and saw that they had been sitting there for nearly an hour and a half. Not bothering to finish her no-longer-warm tea, she set her toothpick near his around the middle of the dish. Watching her finish up, he stood up making a note that it was time to head out.
Walking out of the restaurant was a moment of relief from the smell of steaming drinks and ovens baking and the occasional scent of cigarettes burning from the other customers inside. The feeling of filling their noses with fresh air of the forest trees all around them was like a fast-working medicine. The sun was setting, where only through the silhouettes of the trees the hues of orange-red were visible.
After a moment of freshening up, Shikamaru's voice rang through the silence. "I like talking with you. Our conversations always end up being a real eye-opener for me."
"Me? Enlightening the genius Nara?" she giggled humorlessly but full of thanks. "I'm quite proud to do so."
He smirked, "Good because I'd really like to team up with you more in the future. We can have more of these talks."
"I'd be honored." Tenten smiled tenderly at his statements. It all sounded like he intended to make them plans.
At least he's not lazy to plan those.
Shikamaru felt the atmosphere around him alleviate. Somewhere on the inside, he was almost excited for the next time they could team up again. Hopefully, it would just be the two of them again.
And now, he was a bit closer to being sure his heart was going the same direction.
She's the eye-opener, he thought.
The sky was darkening more, leaving the lanterns of the tea shop the more helpful of the illumination of the setting.
"We should really get going. The Hokage might suspect something went wrong that's going to make our return delayed," he said, again breaking the silence.
Tenten nodded. "Okay. Let's get going."
For some reason, in the middle of their journey back, Tenten became really excited to be teamed up with him again.