• You are so beautiful, you are the kind of girl,
    That has the chemicals that makes me fall in love
    Beautiful, you are the kind of girl,
    That has the chemicals that makes me fall in love

    Three days had passed since their fight and the silence was starting to get on Shikamaru’s nerves. Sure, it’s okay when you’re on a solo mission, but if there is another person, silence can get pretty annoying.

    Sakura refused to even look at him. Whenever they took a break, it wasn’t announced, she would just stop and sit down, purposely adverting her eyes if he so much as glanced in her direction. When it came to meals, she would only say, “Itadakimasu” and eat silently, glaring at her meal with such intensity that Shikamaru was surprised it didn’t melt.

    After the fourth day, his irritation got to him and he cracked. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

    Silence.

    “Look, I’m sorry that I offended you. Now will you forgive me?” he cringed when his last words came out in a desperate tone. He sighed, “This is why I can’t be around women. You are all a complicated species.”

    She snorted, “I didn’t ask to be on this mission with you.” She gasped, realizing that she had just spoken to him. He gave her a triumphant look. “You haven’t won yet, a*****e.” She looked up ahead and sighed in relief. They had reached the Suna border. Thank God!

    A few hours later, they were at the gates of Suna, where a frazzled looking Temari was waiting for them. When she saw them, she grinned happily. “Took you long enough to get here.” When she saw who it was, her grin turned sadistic. “Well, if it isn’t the crybaby.”

    “Damn you, woman. I am not a crybaby,” sneered Shikamaru, giving her a disgusted look.

    “Riiiight, got it,” her teal gaze turned to Sakura and she smiled. “Hey, Sakura-chan. How’d you get stuck with this bozo?”

    Her pink-haired friend made a face, “I didn’t exactly pick him to come with me. It was randomly chosen by our Hokage.” She inwardly cursed at her Master.

    -----

    Back in Konoha, Tsunade sneezed. “…?”

    ----

    “Ah, I see,” Temari said. She turned to lead them both into her village. “Everyone’s getting busy for the wedding.” Her gaze clouded over into a dreamy state. “I can’t believe my little brother is finally getting married.” She blinked. “I feel happy for them, yet I feel a bit sad.”

    “That’s because no one wants to marry a crazy Amazon,” Shikamaru said, putting his hands into his pockets. “I feel sorry for you.” He was instantly smacked by Temari’s giant iron fan.

    “A*****e! I happen to have a boyfriend!” she huffed. “At least he doesn’t cry.” Not that he heard her, he was currently dazed. She didn’t even bat an eyelash. “Well, we should get you both situated.” She continued walking, giving the two Leaf nin no choice but to follow, or rather Sakura was practically dragging an semi-unconscious Shikamaru along.

    They didn’t stop until they reached the Kazekage’s office, where a very tired Gaara was looking over some documents. He looked up, grateful that there would be a small break.

    “I brought the Leaf representatives,” Temari said. Gaara nodded, giving her a look that said, thanks for stating the obvious. She smirked, and with a devilish look in her eyes, left.

    “It’s nice to see you again, Kazekage-sama,” Sakura said, smiling at her friend. “On behalf of Konohagakure, we give you our best wishes.”

    “No need to be so formal, Sakura-san. I accept your regards,” the Suna nin said, leaning back in his chair. He cocked a non-existent eyebrow at Shikamaru, who had just now regained full consciousness. Sakura just shrugged.

    “The welcoming committee gave him a real welcome,” was all she said, and that look in her eyes told Gaara that that was all she was going to say. He didn’t press further.

    Shikamaru held his head, feeling a bit nauseous. He straightened up and bowed towards Gaara. “I apologize for my behavior.” D**n Temari. Gaara simply nodded and looked back down at his papers. He cleared his throat.

    “Your sleeping arrangements have been determined,” he said, causing Sakura and Shikamaru to freeze. “Sakura-san will be staying in the mansion and Shikamaru…you’ll be staying in Kankuro’s apartment.” He stared at them when they both let out a sigh of relief. Things got even stranger when Sakura actually sank to her knees, thanking God. “Is there something…wrong?” he directed this question at Shikamaru.

    “Nothing much, really,” Shikamaru said in an icy tone. It suddenly felt like the room had instantly frozen over and he was actually forcing a smile that would’ve sent little kids screaming for Mommy.

    When someone smiles like that, then you know the conversation is over. Luckily for them, Gaara knew this, so no more questions were asked, and for that Shikamaru was grateful. Gaara then called for Kankuro to come pick up Shikamaru, and the puppeteer appeared minutes later.

    He smirked when he saw Sakura, letting his eyes roam shamelessly over her body before Shikamaru’s hand grasped his shoulder. He turned to face him and met a very murderous glare. “Right, I guess it’s time to go…?” The shadow user nodded silently, and walked out of the office, his temper barely kept in check. He was followed by a confused Kankuro.

    As soon as they were out of sight from the office, Kankuro turned to Shikamaru and asked, “Is there something going on between you and Sakura?”

    Silence, then Shikamaru shook his head. Kankuro smirked, “Then you guys are not together?”

    “No, but if you come near her, I will personally rip your b***s off and feed them to you on a silver platter,” Shikamaru hissed.

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    Sakura was grateful that Shikamaru wasn’t around. In fact, she felt like if she was on Cloud Nine. Now he couldn’t pester or make fun of her. She laughed, remembering his so-called ‘confession’ four days ago.

    He shook his head, “Look at me. I don’t kid around.” His face was once again red, but at this moment he didn’t give a s**t about it. “I don’t mess around when it comes to love.”

    What did he know about love? She always remembered him saying how women were annoying and a drag. How complicated women were and that he could never figure them out. She huffed, “Stupid idiot.” She looked at her surroundings and a small smile graced her lips.

    The room that she was given was tastefully decorated. There were paintings on the wall, some of them original. Her bed was decked out in the Suna colors, but not overly so and the best part was that she had her own bathroom. She sighed dreamily, “This is bliss.” But she couldn’t help but wonder how her teammate was doing, even if he had pissed her off.

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    Black and purple.

    That’s what greeted Shikamaru as soon as he walked into Kankuro’s apartment. Not to mention a black cat. He gaped at Kankuro, who just gave him a dismissive glance and went towards where Shikamaru assumed his bedroom was. He grinded his teeth in annoyance and ventured further inside, stopping in Kankuro’s living room. He glanced around, trying very hard to ignore the cat that was currently rubbing against his legs.

    Kankuro came back, his face free of the purple kabuki paint he usually wore. “Sorry about the mess, but I wasn’t really expecting this. I assumed Gaara was going to let you stay in the mansion.”

    What mess? thought Shikamaru, finally taking a good look at Kankuro’s home. And nearly swallowed his tongue. There were porn magazines scattered everywhere. Well, that wasn’t really much of a surprise, seeing that Kankuro is male. But the porn wasn’t really the problem, it was actually all the cat paraphernalia that he had around. Everything was positively ‘Kitty Themed’. It was so cute you could’ve thrown up.

    Shikamaru finally found his voice, “So…you like…cats?” he tried not to sound like he was freaked out, but from the hurt look on Kankuro’s face, it sounded like it. “I…sorry, I’m not really used to it.”

    Total b******t, Kiba is like this too.

    “Right, sure.”

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    The next morning, everyone was up and about, except for one very tired Shikamaru. It had taken him a long time to fall asleep, due to the black cat that wouldn’t leave him alone. Kankuro explained that Lea, that was the cat’s name, liked good-looking men. Which probably meant that she was totally in love with Shikamaru. She finally left him alone at dawn, opting to go sleep in Kankuro’s bed with her master.

    Sakura, on the other hand, had had the best sleep she had ever had in a long time. Even her bed back in Konoha wasn’t this comfortable. She would have to remember to ask Temari what type of mattresses Suna used.

    After a quick shower, she dressed and went off to meet with the Suna officials. To her surprise, Shikamaru wasn’t there at all. She gave Kankuro a questioning look, but he ignored her, causing her to bristle slightly.

    The meeting was almost done by the time her teammate had finally showed up, which the officials didn’t really approve of, but didn’t say anything. Shikamaru sighed and took his seat between Kankuro and some unknown man, wait…he did know him. It was Baki.

    “Ahem, as I was saying,” one of the Elders started, “The wedding should be held within next week.” There were a couple of nods, but Sakura interjected.

    “I disagree. It jus doesn’t seem…right. To marry them both off in such short notice, it just seems…I don‘t know, a bit rushed. You could at least give them half a month.” Her statement was met with silence and a couple of scowls.

    “You might think so, Haruno-san, but things work differently here in Sunagakure,” Baki said, lacing his fingers together and looking bored.

    “He’s right, Sakura-chan,” Temari said, putting one of her elbows on the table and resting her head on her hand. “It’s usually in ones best interest to marry two weeks after the engagement.” She sighed and that dreamy look crossed her eyes again, “It will be beautiful.”

    “Someone give me a barf bag, I’m going to throw up,” Kankuro said in a disgusted tone. “Pray that we don’t have to see your wedding to Senroh-dono.” She shot him a venomous glare.

    “You’ve got something to say about Takeshi-kun?” she said icily, her glare now steely. Everyone at the table shook their heads. She smiled and grinned, “Gooood.” Because if you do, I’ll f*****g kill you. Everyone heard the unsaid part of that sentence and shuddered.

    Sakura just scowled and excused herself. Nobody noticed, except of course for Shikamaru. It was funny, really. A representative walks out and nobody notices, yet they noticed him walking in late. Great, now he was the one trapped.

    Thankfully it ended just a few minutes after Sakura’s departure. That was when everyone noticed. “Where did that Leaf nin go?”

    “She left about five minutes ago,” Shikamaru said. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to hold off a migraine. He later found that it was futile.

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    She leaned heavily against her door, a tired sigh leaving her lips. So what if they do things differently? They’re not giving Matsuri-chan or Gaara-san enough time. She growled in frustration and crashed onto her bed.

    A knock at her door caused her to grimace, she didn’t want to see anyone right now. But it was probably Temari or…she opened the door and cursed. “What the hell are you doing here, Shikamaru?”

    He simply stared at her, not saying anything. Then he scowled. “I don’t really know myself. I just had to see you.”

    She rolled her eyes, “Why do I get the feeling that you have other reasons you came here for?” She backed up and let him in, but making it quite clear that he should remain standing. She sat down cross-legged on the bed and continued to glare. “Well?”

    He shifted his legs and actually looked uncomfortable. And her glaring at him wasn’t exactly helping. The things you do to me. I just want it all to end. “This is getting old.”

    She raised an eyebrow. “What is?” She already knew, so what was with this interrogation? “You, acting like a child?”

    He crossed his arms, “I’m acting like a child? Speak for yourself. You still cling to the idea that Uchiha Sasuke will come back to Konoha apologizing for everything he did.” He saw his words hit home when Sakura looked guilty. “You believe that he will come back and everything will go back to the way it was. How naïve you are,” he continued. “It makes me sick.”

    “Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!” she screamed, hurling herself at him, making them both crash into the ground. Her eyes were blazing with anger and she looked so feral, that for a moment, Shikamaru actually feared for his life. “WHAT DO YOU KNOW?! YOU’VE NEVER LOVED ANYONE! DON’T YOU DARE PATRONIZE ME!” Tears were running down her pale cheeks. “Just…stop. Please, just stop.” She buried her head into his chest and sobbed frantically. He thought about hugging her, comforting her, but decided against it.

    “I’m…sorry,” was all he said.