It All Started With A Smell

Pulse

He put a hand on her blanket covered shin, giving it a light squeeze. He didn't care what she did or said to him at that moment, just seeing her alive was everything he needed. She was alive, she was safe, and although she was hurt in more ways than one she would heal, given time. He found himself hating Sasuke at that moment though and if that traitor ever did come back to the village the first thing Shikamaru was doing was punching him in the face, and then refusing to let anyone heal the damage. That asshole was going to have to heal at a slow, agonising rate, and if he did get treatment Shikamaru would do it again and again until Sasuke stopped having someone heal it for him, or died.

The two looked up when the door rolled open. Lady Tsunade and Sakura entered. Apparently the news had travelled that the recovery team was back. By the look on Sakura's face it seemed she had been told of its failure.

"Naruto," Sakura said. That one word made guilt and pain wash over the blonde's features. It honestly looked as though Naruto was going to cry. Instead she looked back at her lap like she had been for most of Shikamaru's visit.

"I had heard that your injuries were pretty serious," Lady Tsunade commented, hand on her hip. "You seem to be doing well considering."

"I'm... sorry, Sakura." Naruto's voice lacked the emotional range Shikamaru was used to hearing.

The sound of her voice at that moment made him feel cold. Every instinct in him told him to comfort her but Sakura and Lady Tsunade were watching them. He tried to keep contact with Naruto to a minimum around others unless he knew she needed it. Or if he felt he did. Trying to be discrete he put his hand back on her shin, rubbing her leg once so she knew it was on purpose.

Sakura looked surprised for a moment before smiling, giving a little breath of laughter. "Sorry? What do you have to be sorry about?"

If she wasn't a girl Shikamaru might have punched her too. Instead he tightened his hold on Naruto's shin. How could she behave like that when her teammate was in so much pain? When her teammate felt like she had failed her? Pretending there was nothing to apologise for just made it seem as though she always expected Naruto to fail. The failed mission was definitely not Naruto's fault though. She had literally given her life for the mission. It was just lucky that that thing inside her had saved her life. As much as Shikamaru hated the Nine-Tails being inside Naruto he was thankful at that moment. He felt like a hypocrite but like he told Hinata: it was human. To make matters worse though, Sakura started to light-heartedly berate Naruto, like the blonde was still the same idiot from the academy.

"Let me guess," The pinkette continued, walking over to the window, "You got reckless and went off half-cocked again, huh? Look at you now! You look like a mummy."

Naruto cringed into herself. "I'm... so sorry" Tears were definitely welling in her eyes now.

"Hey, why do you have the curtains closed?" Sakura asked, ignoring Naruto's grief. "It's a beautiful day outside. See?"

The light stung as the curtains were thrown open. He could have sworn it was still early morning. Then again he didn't know what time it was. He had been brought back to the village just after sun up and he had been in the hospital for... at least six hours. Probably more given how much sun flooded into the room. Naruto as well shied away from the light.

"I haven't given up," Naruto assured, sitting forward even though it must have caused her tremendous pain. Her voice broke as she spoke, clearly desperate for Sakura to know, to know that she was sorry and that she would do anything to keep her promise. "Listen, I'm still going to keep my promise. After all, it was the promise of a lifetime, right? I meant it!"

"It's okay, Naruto, really," Sakura assured, but she wasn't saying what Naruto needed to hear. It almost sounded like she was giving up. As though she thought Naruto couldn't do it.

"He tried, Sakura," Shikamaru said, trying to keep the growl out of his voice. He wasn't sure how successful he was but part of him didn't care. Naruto had more than tried. Her heart had stopped beating for crying out loud. If Sakura thought Naruto was weak or useless than she didn't know her teammate well enough. She was no friend of Naruto's.

"If I say I'm gonna do it," Naruto spoke up, determination soaking her every word, "That means I will! K? Don't forget, my way of the shinobi means I always stand behind what I say."

Shikamaru gave Naruto's shin another squeeze, smiled at the grin on her face. He knew it was a little forced but at least it was a start. She was even able to give a chuckle. Something in her behaviour must have made Sakura wake up to herself for she actually appeared to take stock of Naruto's appearance.

"Naruto."

Lady Tsunade made them leave so that she could check Naruto's injuries. She mentioned something about electricity possibly damaging the body but would not elaborate. Shikamaru promised to come back after checking on how the others were healing. He put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, letting his fingers skim her neck as he moved away. He was enjoying the heat radiating from her body. Dead people didn't radiate heat. When he turned he found that Sakura had left without saying goodbye whilst Lady Tsunade was looking at the ceiling. He looked up to see what she found so interesting but found nothing but clean white surface. Shrugging, he left.

He came back an hour later. He would have returned earlier if he hadn't seen the giant toad that shook the building. It didn't take much for him to know that Jiraiya was seeing his student. He waited until the toad disappeared before returning to Naruto's room. The blonde smiled at him but there was something to her expression. He paused next to her bed, not knowing if he should sit. Instead of telling him if he could she held up her jacket, which was tattered. There was a hole at chest level that went all the way through. Letting Shikamaru take in the site Naruto gave him a wet smile.

"My jacket's ruined," She joked, a tear running down her cheek. "The nurse brought in my stuff. This is the result of a chidori that Sasuke drove into my chest. He told me he wanted to kill me. He wanted to kill me because I was his best friend." She said the last two words as though they were a bad joke.

She buried her face in her dirty, destroyed jacket, using it to muffle her cry. Without thinking Shikamaru sat next to her, his back against her pillow. He put his arms around her, pulling her to his chest. He expected resistance but all he received was a moment where Naruto tensed before she not only let him hold her but turned into him, burying her face into his vest as well as her jacket. For a loud girl her tears were silent. He wondered how she could cry without noise. Although her jacket was covering her face it wouldn't remove all noise, yet, she was silent as her shoulders shook. He held her tighter, one hand in her hair, the other stroking her back soothingly.

A chidori? He thought. I'm punching Sasuke, letting him heal naturally then punching him again and breaking at least four ribs for good measure. And if he doesn't let them heal naturally I'm going to use my Shadow Strangle jutsu on him.

When Naruto continued to cry Shikamaru took the hand that was clawing at his vest and kissed her palm, ignoring the bandages. He pressed her hand to his cheek, kissing the inside of her wrist, pressing a little harder when he felt her heart beat in response. Naruto didn't stop him but instead slowly calmed down. She eventually let him pull her jacket away, dropping it on the floor. He got her to sit up for a moment so he could remove his vest, figuring it wasn't comfortable for her face to be pressed against. Once it had also been discarded he sat back, pulling Naruto back to him. He continued to stroke her back as she sniffled, her hand firmly clasped in his, sitting on his chest. Her wet face was cold through his net shirt but slowly warmed as her tears dried.

He started to blink slowly, his head rolling back. He couldn't think when he had last slept. He was fairly certain it was when he had exhausted himself from crying and raging at the injustice the Fourth had bestowed on Naruto. That had been over two days ago. That couldn't be right. He looked down, about to tell Naruto that he should leave before he couldn't stand but her eyes were closed, her breaths so light he feared that they were nonexistent. He knew she was still alive though. He had a finger firmly planted on the pulse in her wrist. He smiled, kissing her knuckles before his eyes closed on their own.