Sighing heavily, you stared at the glaringly white ceiling of your infirmary room. You had been confined to the room for what felt like ages but in reality you had only been there three days since you awoke from your coma. However, including the time you were passed out, you had been there for seven.
It was only a week but you were growing tired of being confined to one room. You understood that the medical nin just wanted to make sure you made a full recovery but you were growing restless. Thankfully, the medical nin said you would be released this afternoon.
While this was exciting news it was only 10:00 am so you still had to wait a while before you could leave.
Sighing loudly at this you glanced to your room's door as a knock sounded on it.
"Come in" You chimed, expecting somebody to open the door but it never opened.
Raising an eyebrow at this, you sat up in your bed. Your abdomen twinged in pain from the movement but you simply ignored it. The medical nin had already healed your wound shut but they said it may hurt off and on for a few days so the pain wasn't concerning.
Standing up from your bed, you quietly made your way to the door and swung it open with a perplexed look on your face. Behind the door was Shikamaru, his eyes were widened and his mouth was slightly open as a look of surprise overcame his face.
As the two of you made eye contact, Shikamaru quickly averted his gaze elsewhere. Frowning at this, you watched as the dark haired male took an awkward step away from you.
"Uh sorry...I-I...man I don't even know what to say...what a pain..." Shikamaru sighed in frustration as he rubbed the back of his neck while looking off to the side.
Growing slightly irritated by the male's behavior you felt a frown begin to form on your face. Ever since you explained your past to everyone Shikamaru had hardly spoken to you. He only came by the hospital to visit you with Choji and even then he would barely say anything you. It made you feel like you had done something wrong.
"Did I do something wrong...or does this have to do with my past?" You slowly questioned.
Glancing towards you, Shikamaru's dark eyes briefly connected with yours before moving back to the ground. You really hoped you hadn't done something to upset Shikamaru but honestly you would rather him be upset about something you had done rather than your past. You cared about Shikamaru and didn't want to lose your friendship with him but his silence spoke volumes.
'He doesn't believe me about my past...'You solemnly thought, a sinking feeling suddenly overcoming you. The mere thought coupled with his silence made your chest tighten and you began to turn back towards your hospital room.
"H-hey wait!" Shikamaru quickly spoke up, as one of his hands gently grabbed your arm in an attempt to stop you.
You let him stop you but you did not turn back towards him. There were tears beginning to form in your eyes and you didn't want him to see. You were tired of people seeing you cry. It made you feel vulnerable and helpless.
"(YN)...you did nothing wrong. I'm the one in the wrong... After the arena, I was so confused. I didn't know what to believe. I doubted you and couldn't face you after realizing how horrible of a friend that made me... I'm sorry."
You blinked back your tears in confusion at his apology. You honestly weren't expecting that, you had thought that his odd behavior was because of your past but in reality it was just him feeling guilty.
Slowly turning back around you faced Shikamaru. This time he wasn't looking at the ground. Instead, his dark eyes were trained upon you. In his eyes you saw a mixture of guilt and sincerity.
"It's okay Shikamaru...I forgive you." You softly replied.
Shikamaru visibly relaxed at your words and you could see the look of relief in his eyes. Smiling at this, you found your eyes traveling down towards the warm feeling around your arm. The source of this feeling was Shikamaru's hand which was still lightly gripping your arm.
Following your gaze, Shikamaru quickly retracted his hand back once he realized he was still holding your arm. Your eyes snapped back up to Shikamaru at the motion and you saw a light shade of pink dust his cheeks as the male quickly put his hands in his pockets. Grinning, you were going to tease him over it but ended up deciding against it as you felt your stomach lightly rumble in hunger.
"As I said, I do forgive you Shikamaru but I think you owe me one." You stated, a hint of playfulness lacing your words as you placed your hands on your hips.
"You can make it up to me by taking me out for lunch after I'm released from the hospital." You concluded with a cheeky grin. While you were just teasing Shikamaru and honestly didn't expect any favors you secretly hoped he would agree.
"Alright, I could go for some food. When do you get released?"
"Sometime this afternoon. It will probably be around 1.00."
"Okay, I have to meet up with my team around 11:00 but I'll be back around 1:00 and we can go to lunch."
~~~~~~~~~~~~timeskip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"That was delicious. So much better than hospital food." You spoke with a satisfied grin on your face as you plopped down in the grass beside Shikamaru.
The two of you had barbecue after you were released from the hospital and were now setting in one of Konoha's empty training grounds.
"Yea but pretty much anything is better than hospital food." Shikamaru commented with a slight
smirk as he laid back in the grass with his hands behind his head.
"Yea that's true." You lightly laughed, as you laid down in the grass beside Shikamaru. It was late in the afternoon now and the lowering sun cast an orange glow across the clouds as a gentle breeze blew around you and Shikamaru.
As you laid there watching the clouds with Shikamaru you found your thoughts drifting towards Gaara and Sasuke. You hadn't seen either of them since your last battle in the chunin exams. You knew Gaara was still upset about what happened in the forest of death and as for Sasuke you knew why he was upset too. You couldn't say for certain but you had a pretty good idea that it had to do with your battle with Saito. You knew how Sasuke felt about Itachi after he massacred their clan and how similar your past was to what Itachi did. You essentially massacred part of your clan as well but the difference was you had been forced too. You were unsure of whether or not Sasuke would see it that way. You had always been scared of Sasuke finding out about your past for that reason and with the male's current absence in your life you were sure that that was part of it.
"What's on your mind?"
Snapping out of your thoughts, you glanced towards Shikamaru who was still laying in the grass beside you. His eyes were trained on you as he awaited your reply.
Sighing a bit, you sat up from your spot in the grass. You then brought your knees to your chest as you loosely wrapped an arm around them.
"It's Sasuke. I haven't seen him since my battle in the arena." You quietly replied as you gently sat your chin upon your knees.
"And Gaara too. I know they're both mad at me."
"Wait, you know that guy? He almost killed Rock Lee in the preliminaries."
Your eye's widened in surprise at Shikamaru's words. You knew that Gaara had beaten up Rock Lee in the arena but you didn't realize it had been that bad. Naruto had filled you in on all the details of each battle but all he said about Rock Lee's battle was that Gaara had beaten him up pretty bad. He never said that he almost died.
"Why would they both be mad at you?" Shikamaru spoke, once again breaking you out of your thoughts.
"Well I think Gaara's mad because we use to be best friends and then I was forced to leave the Sand Village without saying goodbye to him. I never though I would see him again after that and then I saw him in our village for the first time in years and I didn't know what to say or do...so I did nothing. Then Gaara found out who I was in the Forest of Death so I think he is upset I didn't say anything...as for Sasuke I think he is upset about my past... it has similarities to his past and what I was forced to do is vaguely similar to what Itachi did to their clan..."
Shikamaru quietly sat in thought as he contemplated your words before turning to look at you.
"All of that sounds like a huge pain."
"It is." You nodded, tilting your head down to look at Shikamaru.
"I need to talk to them. I need to make things right."
Shikamaru made a slight grimace at your words.
"Apologies are a good thing, especially if you messed up but I don't envy those two conversations."
"Yea it's going to suck." You lightly laughed.
"I think that's an understatement." Shikamaru deadpanned, a faint smirk tugging at the edge of his lips.
You sighed loudly at his words as you dramatically fell back onto the grass beside Shikamaru. Raising an eye brow at your behavior Shikamaru watched as you turned onto your side to completely face him. Resting your head on one of your hands you gave Shikamaru a feigned pleading look.
"Wanna do it for me? While your at it you can also ask the Hokage about hiding my necklace."
Shikamaru gave you a look at this and lightly laughed.
"Yea right, that'd go over well."
"Ah it was worth shot." You joked, causing Shikamaru to shake his head with a faint grin adorning his face. His grin then slightly faded as a more serious look took over his features.
"To be honest, the whole thing sounds like a headache...but I am here for you if you need me."
You were slightly taken aback by his words but your heart was warmed nonetheless. Smiling, you settled back into the grass beside Shikamaru. As you laid beside Shikamaru, you gently reached your hand out to his hand. Your fingers lightly grazed his skin as you closed them around his hand in a gentle hold.
"Thank you. I am always here for you too." You stated, lightly squeezing Shikamaru's hand before retracing your hand from his and focusing your attention on the setting sun.
Third Person Point of View:
Shikamaru laid there in shock as he processed (Yn)'s actions. The feeling of her warm hand within his lingered and his breathing unconsciously quickened as a light feeling overcame him. Shikamaru had no idea what this feeling was and he soon became lost in thought over it as he silently watched the clouds with (YN).