No I didn't abandon this story :)
I've been listening to lots of Lily Allen and early 2000s songs while I was writing this (You know, Vertical Horizon times?)
So ooooh if it seems overflowed with descriptions of scenery then my bad :)
Enjoy!
Chapter Two: Tenten Knows Nothing Happens at 2 AM
For the next two weeks, the sun heightened its fiery fury throughout Konoha's summer scenes. The heat could have been able to rival the desert temperatures of Suna, but thankfully for the all of the forests surrounding the town it kept heat fevers hushed.
After Shikamaru and Tenten checked in at the Hokage tower, the two casually exited, sighing in relief. With the midnight setting helping to cool their tired bodies, the walk to their homes was actually refreshing. Their share of the day ended when they reached the first closest home – Shikamaru's – and after they made their friendly farewells with each other.
"The heat's probably getting to the Fifth too. Shoot, she was probably the first to be infected; it must explain why none of the other shinobis besides us haven't been going on many missions these past couple weeks."
Ino was lucky to say those words without any apparent response. Whether it was because (A) Sakura was due to be at least ten minutes late to their girl's afternoon out, so there was no way for Ino's opinion to be criticized live; (B) the fact that they were at a local café shop that was an eyeshot away from any bar or tall red tower with a fire insignia on it; or (C) everyone who was present hearing the blonde talk got infected by the lethargy too. Whatever the reason, watching Ino cunningly sip her cherry-flavored iced tea made what she said sound almost final, and terribly right.
Tenten contemplated making an opinion on the topic, but she was too subjected to the "lazy disease" to do so. Diligently, she switched out her left arm and hand to her right to help prop up her face, her new elbow on the table – and that was her response. Minutes after Sakura arrived, life was still slowly progressing. Because of all of the days off that were granted, hanging out in cafés had become routine for the girls.
It was becoming awfully boring, and none of them needed to mention aloud for everyone to know. Even though everyone else would have agreed, it was probably Tenten who missed the exhilarating feeling of shinobi adventures the most. But with an accidental vacation going on this long, she really couldn't help but take precious care of her time.
Looking around at the table, she tried to find signs of any new life within her friends. On the left was Hinata Hyuuga, who was staring off into a distance with a calm, undisturbed look that strikingly resembled her cousin's. This made Tenten smile, being reminded of her old teammate who was doing well making his reputation as the greatest Hyuuga ninja ever spawned. Next to the female Byakugan user was the Mind-Controlling ninja who didn't seem like taking back her words about the Hokage anytime soon. And next to Ino and Tenten's right was Sakura, consuming her lemon water drink with the determination to keep herself from dehydrating. So there was life, but nothing new per say. The brunette sighed under her breath, ending her mental search sipping her peach tea through a red straw. The day was seemingly dragging on a lot slower compared to the previous ones. If this kept up, Konoha outside and in will have the sluggishness to rival Shikamaru Nara, Tenten thought.
Shikamaru. Now there's someone who the female weapon master wasn't up-to-date with. Coming to thought, the last time she had seen or heard from him was when they had walked each other home (or rather she walked him to his house) after checking in at the Hokage tower. That was two weeks ago, right before the days started becoming hotter. Where was he these days? What was he doing? Was he getting these lucky-but-seriously-sucky vacation days too? Knowing him, he was probably cloud watching at the moment.
Thinking of him, Tenten stuck her head out from under the large umbrella shading their table space from the dangerous sun and looked up at the sky. No clouds. It was far too bright and too damn hot for any. So what else could he be doing?
"Well," Shikamaru breathed a bit, "guess it's safe to say we made that one out alive. I mean, look at us: we pretty much as fresh as the way we left, am I right Tenten?"
"You have got to be kidding."
"No, I'm not. We were almost perfect this time."
"Okay now you're just trying to be funny," she crooned, slightly giggling.
"Hey," with a non-serious sternness he spoke, "it's working though. You're giggling after all."
Tenten bit her bottom lip, trying to look as innocent as possible. Shikamaru kept his eyes on her with an attempt to look serious. Mouth in a straight line, forehead crinkled and a pair of eyes trying to bring a false message. The whole thing was just hilarious! If his acting skills were to be scaled one to ten the score would have been a flat three – five at the most because to be a skilled ninja, one had to have some decent acting skills in order to make good deceptions for anything. But his… face!
He wasn't fooling her. He must have known it because his look started to soften when her voice broke out into a hearty laughter. It was loud, but not Ino or Sakura-loud. That was probably the best thing about her laugh.
Shikamaru's thin lips curved upwards in a slight smile. "If you're trying to tell me my acting skills are bad, you sure are doing a good job at putting it in the nicest way possible."
Tenten's throe of giggles diffused. "Well good or bad, it gave a good laugh. So, that's gotta mean it's a good thing." She smiled. A kind of smile Shikamaru was very familiar with. He referred the cunning expression as, 'the one women show when they know they're not helping the situation so they try to look as un-guilty as possible to get out of any blame or fault.'
It was a cheap way to get out of trouble. And that was what made it in the top of the lazy ninja's list of despisal. Somewhere under his mother's version of the smile and possibly Ino's.
The rest of the walk continued in silence. On the outside they just looked like a couple of kids out on a midnight walk (for they did not stand too close together, maintaining the 'friend' distance). No one would have commonly guessed that things were somewhat edgy – one in perpetual thought of their actions and the other half-praying that the former wouldn't become part of his list of most troublesome things.
Shikamaru's house was about a few meters away, seemingly looking bigger as they strode closer. Still, nothing was said since their last conversation. Tenten was the one who had the last word, now that she recalled.
It was a very awkward silence, they both concluded. But no matter how troublesome not speaking seemed to be, the stillness was elusively pleasant anyway.
Comfortable silence, they mentally concluded.
At last they arrived in front the doorway of Shikamaru's apartment building. A brisk of cool air blew against their skin; a bit of refreshment to their zoned out minds bringing them back to the reality of them together.
The weapon expert looked up to see his face. Tired, albeit somewhat alert of her examining him as he was doing the same to her. Tenten knew she didn't look as tired as he did though, but that was a hard thing to accomplish.
Then she realized something: Shikamaru was tall. Or, at least had grown tall. With an approximate measure, she only came up right below his bottom lip. The first time she had taken a glance at him was the beginning of the Chuunin Exams when a certain hyperactive hokage-in-training blurted out his life story to every competitor in the room. All of the rookies, including Lazy, were gawking at Naruto for embarrassing them.
But who blames Naruto anymore? If anything, he helped the current situation land.
Looking down at Tenten was a strange fact to be aware of in Shikamaru's mind. He could recall a time when she was slightly taller, being a year older. But now here he was, seeing the shadow of his figure spread over her front. Even with her darkened appearance – all thanks to him, her brown eyes glinted with the moonlight's bright chroma.
He sighed quietly. Tenten had spent enough time with him to know that it was those distinct 'goodbye' sighs he shared whenever before they had to leave. She really didn't want to leave him just yet. And it wasn't only because she longed for some company a little longer, but she knew it would probably be a while before she would see Shikamaru again. Because really, how often were they assigned missions anyway? There were plenty of other shinobi who needed to work their worth too.
She looked up at him again, tilting her head back a bit to see his whole complexion in plain view. Blinking, she switched her relaxed expression into a small smile. "So uh," she said slowly. The way his face turned unnaturally firm told her that he was daydreaming. "I guess this is where I leave you alone then."
Shikamaru cocked his head to the side. Her tone sounded warm, but her words he was a bit unsure of. Not wanting to delve into her words any more, he quirked his lips in a reassuring smile. Just in case.
"Yeah. It's getting really late," he yawned, it was almost dawn for goodness's sake, "and my mother will have my neck if I'm not found in my room at sunup. It's a turn-off, really. And now I really don't wanna go inside."
She couldn't say she didn't second that last part. The night's chill sent shivers against her, reprimanding her that she would be facing a solitude she was in no mood for in a few minutes.
"Ah well I don't want you to lose anything for coming home late, otherwise we won't be going on our fun missions together anymore." She caught her own words too late. Lord help that he was too tired to have really paid attention!
"That's true," he said. He yawned again. He really was genius enough to keep his thoughts straight even though sleep was gaining on him like a shadow.
"Mhm. Well I don't want to keep you standing here. You should sleep, or you might tumble and fall on these steps here."
"Wouldn't want that to happen."
"You might fall and break a couple of bones and you'd have to go to the hospital."
"A good reason to have more time away from home."
"Saves your mom the trouble of personally having your neck and ankles."
A soft but audible chuckle escaped his lips. A subtle blush spread on Tenten's cheekbones but went unnoticed under his shadow. The only thing Shikamaru was able to catch was her smile. Not the cunning kind that he loathed, but the natural one that he subconsciously admired.
"I really don't wanna go inside now. You woke up my mind all of the sudden. I don't think I'd be able to sleep with all these thoughts flying in my head."
"Not my fault, if you're trying to blame me."
"Never dreamed of doing something of the sort."
"Mmm… what time is it anyway?"
Shikamaru turned his head and stretched his body sideways peer into a kitchen window, to find the digital timer on a microwave; its green light blaring in the dark house. "Says 1:46 AM."
"Until two o'clock then." The shadow user's face furrowed with slight confusion apparent on his facial expression. "Because nothing happens after 2 AM."
"Why's that?"
"Haveyou ever planned to do something right at that time of the day?"
His face loosened with some sense of understanding, but Tenten was still sure that he was probably still confused.
Leaving the subject adrift, Shikamaru asked, "So what do you want to do for the next thirteen-some odd minutes?"
"I… kinda thought you had something in mind. You were the one who suggested not parting ways immediately."
"Doesn't mean I'm not gonna grow tired here. It was enough effort to walk in and check in with the Hokage, and walk out all the way over here."
"Geez, you really are a lazy moron."
"Tell me somethin' I don't know Tenten," he scoffed languidly.
"It's 1:54," she deadpanned.
"Ah," he mused, "so you can be sarcastic." From the way Shikamaru sounded, he was quite enlightened.
"Either you're rubbing off on me, or I'm just getting really tired – which must mean you're growing on me."
"Take that with pride or offense; doesn't matter to me." He wanted to roll his eyes but moving from his slouched posture didn't appeal to him.
"I'd rather not say," said Tenten.
His eyes didn't leave hers – attempting to mentally pry into her thoughts. He tested her to see if she would look at him. And when she finally did, she looked a little more alive – like she had been pretending to be tired to try to get him to go home.
Shikamaru sighed. It was time to say goodbye. And mean it.
Just as he was about to speak, Tenten cut his thoughts off and said, "Gotta get going, I s'pose. I'm sure it's 2:01 now."
She straightened her standing position and dusted off the imaginary dirt particles from the thighs of her pants. Brushing her bangs to the side, she gave him one last smile before hopping down the steps and saying, "I'll see you around, Shikamaru."
He smiled back, vague with sleepiness. "Take care. And don't forget – next mission you get better have my name on the roster. I'll be sure to do the same for myself too."
"You're taking too much advantage of the Fifth's favor towards you Shikamaru!" she called out.
"No complaints here! If I wasn't such a moron we wouldn't have been paired up recently!" he hollered back.
"Whatever! Bye!" she waved frantically, laughing at the same time as she made her way rushing home.
The boy was really invading her thoughts. Back at the teahouse right before they set off for Konoha, he had said that he had wanted to spend more time with her. Of course, he meant he wanted to spend mission time and not necessarily leisure time. Careerism was what shinobis basically lived for, and they were good at it – the two of them.
But one question had Tenten boggling mentally since the night at Shikamaru's doorstep. Will it always just during missions that they could spend time together?
Either Tenten had not yet consciously grasped this personal matter wholly, or she had been afraid all along to straight up ask herself that question.
"Look there's someone walking by!" Ino exclaimed, pointing happily to a silhouette in the distance that was seemingly growing bigger and clearer, "Hey I think it's…"
Hope you guys likey :)
Always open for comments/criticism!