Disclaimer: Even still, I do not own Naruto.

Impulse

By Raine Ishida

Part Two: Chapter One

The man at the table in the coffee shop was cute.

Shikamaru wanted to talk to him, but a nagging part of him, always in the back of his mind, told him it wasn't a good idea. What if he was laughed at? Called names? Beat up? It had happened before.

With coffee in hand, Shikamaru watched him from a distance for a little while. The young man was studying diligently, his left hand carefully turning his paper coffee cup in circles as he concentrated. The text book was huge; Shikamaru wondered what he was studying.

He had silver hair pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, dark eyes and round glasses, which he pushed back up the bridge of his nose every so often with his index finger. His skin was pale, clear and lovely. Shikamaru was entranced, especially with how he moved his lips as he read.

The decision was made: he had to go over there and talk to him.

His chair scraped loudly the floor as he got up, and Shikamaru cringed, expecting everyone to look at him and laugh or glare, but no one paid him any mind.

Shikamaru approached the table, nervous, but confident at the same time. A strange mix.

The young man looked up as Shikamaru reached his table, his eyes curious.

"Hi," Shikamaru said simply.

"Hi," replied the young man.

"What's your name?"

"…Kabuto Yakushi." His eyes were now no longer curious, but guarded.

Shikamaru offered his hand. "Shikamaru Nara. Nice to meet you."

Kabuto shook his hand, probably to be polite. "So…can I help you?"

Shikamaru glanced at the text book. Kinesiology. Kabuto was a med student. Studious. Hot.

"I saw you from over there," Shikamaru motioned with his hand, "And I decided I needed to introduce myself because we don't know each other."

Kabuto's eyes were still guarded.

"What's your major?" Kabuto asked. A loaded question, almost as revealing as 'What's your sign?'

"Accounting," Shikamaru replied with a shrug.

"Really?" Kabuto seemed impressed.

"Yeah, really. Besides, you're one to talk, Mr. Med Student. Why are you studying at this dumpy uni?"

"I transfer to another one next semester."

"Oh, just starting out here?"

"Doing my second degree."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-five."

"And you're on your second degree? What are you, some kind of genius?" Shikamaru wasn't about to divulge the fact that by now he could have had his third degree, but was way too lazy. Accounting was troublesome enough.

"I wouldn't go that far. Besides, you're younger than me, aren't you?" His dark eyes were very curious. Shikamaru felt a little unnerved by them.

"Yeah, I'm nineteen."

"Still a baby, practically," Kabuto joked. He moved a book. "You…want to sit down?"

Shikamaru was surprised that he'd caved so quickly. "Sure."

Shikamaru wasn't sure what to talk about, but found it pleasant that Kabuto had a few things to talk about. They discussed the university's football team, though neither of them liked sports, they admitted with a laugh, their favorite hang out places on campus and off campus, and potential people they both knew. It turned out Kabuto was in a few of the same classes as Temari, Gaara's older sister. Because it was his second degree, that's why he was in her grade. He found himself to be one of the oldest of the kids in his classes, but he didn't let it get in the way of his studies.

Older he may be, he found a lot of people would come to him for study tips, and Kabuto himself hosted a study group in his dorm on Friday nights.

"Friday night? You don't go out on Fridays? You stay home and study? Are you for real?" Shikamaru asked, his eyebrows raised as he pushed his chair back to rock on its back legs. "That's a drag."

"I want to keep good grades…" Kabuto admitted bashfully, his cheeks turning pink.

Shikamaru grinned. "Well, man. I commend you. I can't study at all."

"Are your grades good?"

"Unfortunately."

Kabuto seemed confused. "Do you have one of those brains that all of us despise where you don't have to study at all and you just know the material?"

Shikamaru shrugged one shoulder and smirked. "Do you hate me for it?"

"Yes," Kabuto admitted, pushing his glasses up. "I do. I have to study very hard to keep my grades where they are."

"Top of the class?"

Kabuto's blush answered when his silence did not.

Shikamaru sighed. "Well. Tell me about yourself, then."

"Shikamaru, I'm not a psych student, but…I'm not stupid either. Why are you here? Why are you talking to me?"

Shikamaru's light-hearted expression turned into a frown. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…" Kabuto closed his textbook. "Why are you at this table engaging me in conversation?"

"Yeah, I got that. Why would I want to speak to a med student when I'm in accounting or some stupid crap like that?"

"…did someone put you up to this?"

"Do you have a lot of enemies?" Shikamaru asked, glancing around. Kabuto looked nervous.

"No, I just…don't have friends. People…only want to talk to me because I'm smart."

"So am I. People talk to me because I force them to. They talk to me because I talk first. Because if they interest me, I find them worthy of my time."

Kabuto's slightly parted lips didn't move as he mulled over Shikamaru's egotistical statement.

"Yeah. I'm an asshole. Get used to it, it's just how I am."

Kabuto blinked. "You…how did you know I'd be 'worth your time'?"

"I didn't. I came over here because I thought you were cute."

Kabuto's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "What?!"

Shikamaru shrugged. "You mean you don't know? Everyone on campus knows me, knows where I stand."

"You're…"

"Gayer than Christmas, my friend."

"…But-"

"So now I'll assume you're wondering why I'm talking to you because I think you're cute. You're probably paranoid that I'm trying to coerce you to my dorm so I can sleep with you. Would that be a correct assumption?"

Kabuto kept blinking.

Shikamaru explained. "My roommate's a psych major."

Kabuto kept blinking in shock. "I…should go," he said quickly, standing to get his backpack from under the table.

"Are you afraid of me now? Why is it…that so many people judge me so harshly the moment they find out I like guys?" Shikamaru asked softly, allowing hurt to enter his eyes. "Just because I think you're cute doesn't mean I want to take you home with me, okay? Can't we just sit here and talk like friends?"

"Are we friends?"

"I was hoping we could be," Shikamaru explained with a sheepish smile.

Kabuto settled down and put his books into his backpack, setting the backpack on the floor again.

"I'm sorry, it's just…"

"Are you? And that's why you're scared?"

"Am I what?" Kabuto asked, already knowing Shikamaru's question. He blushed. "I don't know."

"I know this is a little forward of a question, but…hey. You don't know which team you bat for?"

Kabuto smiled faintly. "I don't like sports, remember?"

"A complicated man," Shikamaru joked.

Kabuto shrugged. "I've never been on a date with a girl. Girls didn't really want to date me in high school. I was the weird kid, you know?"

Shikamaru chuckled. "I couldn't get the girls to leave me alone."

"Two very different problems."

"Do you want to go out with a girl? I'm sure Gaara's girlfriend has some cute friends I could set you up with."

Kabuto frowned. "You just told me you're gay and that you think I'm cute and almost in the same breath, you're offering to set me up with someone else?"

Shikamaru held out his hands, palms up. "Hey, what can I say? I live to please."

Kabuto sighed heavily. "Well." He turned his empty coffee cup in his hands a few times, not looking Shikamaru in the eye. "I'd love to be friends with you. I just…don't know if it'll go further than that."

"You mean-"

"I don't know what I mean."

"Med students…you're so calculating."

"You're one to talk," Kabuto retorted with a smirk. "Come on, let's walk across the campus, it's a nice day."

"You'd be seen with me?" Shikamaru teased.

Kabuto rolled his eyes. "Maybe for now."

"You're getting feisty," Shikamaru commented simply as they left the coffee shop. "I like it."

…

Kabuto didn't talk much about himself. School, he talked plenty about. School, a bit about high school as well, but nothing about his family, his home life, any possible friends.

It didn't bother Shikamaru too much, even though he himself blabbed for an hour about his own life and family and friends. In fact, he'd practically spewed his life story because Kabuto was listening.

Kabuto's silence on his personal life had Shikamaru so curious, he wasn't sure how to address the issue, if at all. All he knew was that it made him want Kabuto a little bit more, which was happening regularly, to the point where he had to tell himself to settle down, that this one wasn't like the others. He wasn't…just a 'see you later, thanks for last night' kinda guy. It was refreshing.

…

"So who's this?" Gaara asked, entering the room. Kabuto was standing in the kitchen while Shikamaru made something at the stove.

Gaara extended his hand. "I'm Gaara, Shikamaru's intelligent roommate."

"Kabuto Yakushi. It's nice to meet you," he replied softly, offering his hand in return.

"You brought home a shy one?" Gaara asked. Kabuto blushed bright crimson and turned away, deciding to sit at the kitchen table.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "It's not like that, okay? Sheesh. Where's your cute girlfriend?"

"She's coming over later. Why, are you baking again? She loved those cupcakes you made the other night."

Shikamaru snorted despite himself before flipping whatever was in the skillet into the air and catching it skilfully. "She would. Don't knock her up, okay? We could never afford to feed her that much. That, and you'd be a terrible father."

Shikamaru received a swat to the back of the head as Gaara 'tsk'ed. "Who says?"

"I say. You'd psycho-analyze your poor kid until his brain melted out his ears."

"Whatever you say, genius. Tell me more about this gentleman sitting at my kitchen table."

Kabuto smiled shyly, and Shikamaru told Gaara that Kabuto could speak for himself.

"I'm 25," Kabuto started. Gaara bit his tongue with the glare Shikamaru sent him. "I'm a med student…studying kinesiology."

"He's on his second degree," Shikamaru added, finishing up at the stove and bringing three plates of food over to the table.

"Yeah? Nice. What's your first one in?"

"Naturopathic medicine," Kabuto replied with another blush. "Don't laugh, most people do."

"Why?"

"Because it makes me look and sound like a hippie," Kabuto explained.

"No, not really. Just looking for an alternative to medicine. Good on you."

"So…what is your girlfriend like?" Kabuto asked. Gaara flushed.

"Well, our relationship was an accident. Her name's Tenten, she's twenty, and…she'll be over later if you want to meet her. She loves meeting new people."

"Okay," Kabuto replied, blushing again.

Shikamaru sighed and finished his food. "So. Gaara. When are you going away?"

"Why, you have other plans with this guy?" Gaara asked, smiling.

Kabuto didn't flush again, he just remained red. Shikamaru chuckled and gathered the plates. "Well, if you're here, then we'll have to go somewhere else."

"I thought we had rules about that. You didn't have a sock on the door. The dorm's free game."

Kabuto frowned. "Sock on the door?"

Gaara shrugged. "Oh, you know. Guys do it to let their roommates know they have someone over…and they don't want to be disturbed. It's kind of a joke we have going because he-" Gaara stopped when he saw the look Shikamaru was giving him.

"Don't finish that sentence if you want to keep your most precious possession. I won't elaborate." Shikamaru was holding the large knife he'd used to chop the vegetables he'd put in their omelettes.

Gaara smiled. "Anyway. I see that he's picked someone normal, so I don't have to worry about anything like interrupting you guys."

"What…" Kabuto was frowning. "Look, you guys-" He was stuttering over his tongue, trying to find the most appropriate words. Shikamaru just put his hands on his hips and sighed.

"Just say it."

"I get that you're gay and all, but…I never said I was going to go along with any of this…that I wanted to-"

"You mean, he just did his usual thing, like approached you, told you he thought you were cute, and then charmed you back here to 'hang out'?" Gaara asked.

Shikamaru actually stomped his foot angrily. "Gaara! Damnit man, would you shut up?"

Kabuto's eyebrows were knitted in confusion. "Well, yes, that's what happened…but…"

"You don't think his prime objective is to get into your pants?"

"Gaara, what the hell?!" Shikamaru cried.

"Well, if it's not true, then deny it," the redhead said stoically, his hands folded on the kitchen table.

Shikamaru sighed. "Well…I did approach him and tell him he was cute, and yes, I do…think about him in a sexual manner."

Kabuto immediately tensed, his entire body rigid as he sat in the chair, Gaara observing each movement of the other men in the room.

Shikamaru sighed and put down the dirty dishes he'd been holding. "Look man, I got to know you a bit and I like you, okay? More than just a booty call."

"…But…" Kabuto was squirming, and Gaara was doing nothing to stand up for his roommates generally decent character. Because when it came to bringing men home, Shikamaru wasn't a decent character.

Gaara stood. "Well. I see how this is playing out."

"Right into your hands, isn't it?" Shikamaru snapped. "Look, man, what the hell is wrong with you? I'm trying to be a better man, and you had to go and say all that crap about me-"

"It's all true, Shikamaru. You're just playing with him."

"Not…I am not!" Shikamaru cried. Kabuto stood abruptly.

"Um, I'm really sorry, but…I need to go."

"Kabuto, don't leave!" Shikamaru demanded, setting the dishes down on the counter and stepping towards him.

Kabuto turned to Gaara quickly and offered a nervous smile. "It was nice to meet you. I'm sorry, but I have to leave."

"It was a pleasure," Gaara replied with a slight nod of his head.

Kabuto hurried to the door, slipped into his shoes and within seconds, had slammed the door behind him.

Shikamaru was livid. It was all he could do not to punch Gaara in the face. "What did you do that for? Now he's gone and I might not see him again!"

"I'll bet you anything he's hyperventilating in the hallway," Gaara said with a frown. "So stop yelling at me and go after him."

Shikamaru frowned. "What?"

"I'm serious. He's out there still. Go talk to him."

Shikamaru hesitated. "What if he doesn't want to listen to me…?"

Gaara rolled his eyes and took Shikamaru forcibly by the shoulders, pushing him towards the door. "Go, you idiot."

"I don't understand your methods, man. They don't make any sense at all."

"Well, that's why I'm still a student," Gaara explained, and waved his hand. "Get out there!"

Shikamaru opened the door and poked his head into the hallway. A few feet away, Kabuto was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed, breathing deeply.

"I don't believe it," Shikamaru murmured. "You are still here…"

Kabuto jumped, startled. "What?"

"Gaara told me to go after you, saying you'd be outside, trying…to think or something." Shikamaru stepped into the hallway and approached his new friend cautiously. "…Hi."

Kabuto drew in a deep breath and searched Shikamaru's face for answers. "…Hi," he finally replied.

"Sorry about all of that."

"It's probably all true," Kabuto replied. "I don't want to sound like a prude, but I'm totally not that kind of guy. I'm also not sure about anything involving…anything. So don't push me."

Shikamaru frowned. "Okay, you know what? You talking is just getting us both upset. Let me explain where I'm coming from." He put his palms out in a show of surrender.

"I'm single, I'm lonely. I'm gay. You're cute. You're interesting. You're not like the other guys I've ever been into, and you have a brain. Do you know how rare that is? You've completely captivated me from the minute I saw you at the coffee shop and what you need to know is that that just doesn't happen with me. Ever. So, Kabuto Yakushi, I guess what I'm saying is that I think you're worth the effort, as much as I hate to say it because I'm such a lazy-ass."

Kabuto took it all in, let out a deep breath and nodded. "Alright."

"Is that all you have to say?" Shikamaru asked, feeling a twinge of rejection in his chest.

"I didn't say anything other than alright. But…I'm going to need some time to think about everything."

Shikamaru sighed and slid down the wall to sit on the floor. "Thinking is good. It's not…one of my strong suits."

"No, probably not. Too much work?" Kabuto asked with a small grin.

Shikamaru chuckled. "Yeah, too much work."

"So…can we meet in two days and talk about…this?" Kabuto asked. Shikamaru looked up at his new friend and smiled softly.

"Two days? That sounds great."

"Where?"

"In the park outside the campus? That way we can have privacy…as in, Gaara won't listen in, and it's nice out there. Outside is pretty harmless."

"Two days from now I have class until 9:30pm, so…we'd have to meet at 10," Kabuto explained.

Shikamaru nodded and stood up, offering his hand. "Deal. I never sleep anyways."

Kabuto took his outstretched hand and shook it. "Until then…"

Shikamaru offered a small smile. "I hope you come to good conclusions."

"We'll see what happens." He turned with a smile and waved slightly before heading down the hall and out of Shikamaru's line of sight.

Back inside the apartment, Shikamaru swatted Gaara on the back of the head. "You're the meanest roommate I've ever had and I hate you for what you just did."

"So you're meeting up later, then?" The redhead was wearing a thin, mischievous smile.

"In two days," Shikamaru explained, "To talk about 'this', whatever 'this' is."

"Good. I hope he comes around," Gaara said simply.

Shikamaru sighed and slid into a chair at the table. "Me too…"

….