The Things That Don't Match
folder
Naruto › Yaoi - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
27
Views:
1,674
Reviews:
128
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Naruto › Yaoi - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
27
Views:
1,674
Reviews:
128
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto nor do I make any money from this story.
So Troublesome
Chapter 10
Shikamaru sat in the booth of a diner a week after Naruto called with Neji, Kiba, Ino, Sakura, and Sai, they had all decided to do brunch. His eye was lovely shades of brown and yellow and his friends still wouldn’t let him live it down, a part of him was secretly pleased that Sasuke looked worse for wear- there was no way he would lose to that brat, ever.
He swirled the house fries on his plate in some ketchup and popped some in his mouth before frowning.
Neji’s pale eyes looked up at him and he asked, “What’s wrong?”
Shikamaru pointed at his plate, “The food tastes bad.”
Kiba let out a bark of laughter, “Anything would after eating Naruto’s food, and you’ve been doing it for how long? When was the last time you had takeout?”
“Years,” Shikamaru replied blandly.
His friends stared at him with looks of shock and disbelief on their faces.
“Seriously?” Ino asked, “Naruto cooked for you every day?”
Shikamaru nodded, “Yeah.”
“What? What about when he was with Sasuke? Sometimes he’d stay over there for days,” Kiba said.
Shikamaru shrugged, “Ready made meals in the fridge and freezer, I just actually ran out.”
More looks of shock went around.
“What? How could you let him do that?” Ino asked.
“I didn’t,” Shikamaru replied, “Naruto chose to himself. He wanted to cook and he’d get upset if I offered to or brought in takeout so I let him cook. It was too troublesome to argue over something both of us were fine with.”
Neji nodded, “Then what will you do? Are you going to finish eating or make something later?”
“I’ll make something later.”
***
After brunch the friends made their way to Naruto and Shika’s apartment.
“I love your view,” Ino said while standing with Sakura at the floor to ceiling windows in the living room.
Shikamaru continued making his sandwich without saying anything. She had given her opinion and he didn’t need to say anything, he wasn’t the one that made the view he had simply bought the apartment with Naruto. He finished adding the condiments to his sandwich and brought it to the couch where all the guys were, Kiba was in front of their television setting up their video game console and crooning over all their games.
Sai sat beside him, “Have you heard from Naruto since the last time, has he called back?”
The room went silent and turned to Shikamaru as one for his response. Shika shook his head, “No, I haven’t heard from him.”
Sakura growled, “How can you be so calm about this, he’s your best friend isn’t he?”
Shikamaru looked lazily in her direction, “Are you implying something? I’m calm because he has called me and told me he’s safe, I’m calm because I know he’ll come back when he’s ready.”
Sakura clenched her fists, “And that’s another thing! How could he do something so stupid and immature?! How dare he leave just because Sasuke broke up with him *again*, it’s not like there’s anything new there. He’s got some nerve for putting us through this, it’s so selfish of him!”
The Nara’s jaw clenched and everybody looked at him nervously before looking warily back at Sakura. Kiba came up to him and put a hand on his arm, sending Sakura a glare, “Sakura that was too far. Everybody in this room knows what Sasuke put Naruto through for 8 years. You know that this time the break up is permanent; if anybody deserves a break Naruto does, we are all worried for him.”
“Oh please,” she scoffed, “Naruto wasn’t the only one that went through shit in his relationship yet Sasuke is still here. Naruto is only running and it’s really selfish and stupid of him. I thought he got over the idiot phase in high school.”
Everyone in the room was surprised when Ino spoke next, “Sakura, be quiet. You’re only saying this because you like Sasuke and couldn’t understand why he went out with Naruto instead of you. You’re being very rude.”
“I am not!” Sakura started protesting.
“Sakura,” Shikamaru said raising a hand to stop her from continuing, “Ino is right. It was Naruto, not Sasuke, that helped you with your work and was your friend all through high school and university. Sasuke couldn’t and wouldn’t because he’s too self-absorbed. If you really want to go this route and betray Naruto’s friendship like this over a crush that’s not going to go anywhere then just go and don’t bother coming back.”
The words were said in a completely calm monotone that had everybody staring at Shikamaru. The room was completely silent for a few minutes while everyone waited to see what Sakura would do. The silence was broken when the phone started ringing.
Shikamaru pushed himself off the couch and went to the phone on the computer table.
“Hello?”
The other line was quiet for a moment, “Hi, Shikamaru...Are you okay?”
“Naruto,” his voice was flat. Everybody in the apartment turned to him.
“What’s wrong, Shika?” Naruto asked, “Why do you sound like that?”
“Nothing much, just somebody being stupid where they’ve got no ground to be,” he said, staring directly at Sakura. She flinched.
“Okay…?” He could hear the caution in Naruto’s voice and knew that Naruto wasn’t sure quite how to handle this since he didn’t know what was happening. He remained silent since he had nothing to say.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Naruto asked.
“No,” Shikamaru replied, the two of them didn’t need to be annoyed by Sakura’s words.
“Okay. Well I was just calling to let you know that I’m alright.” Naruto said.
“That’s good. Our friends are here, do you want to talk to any of them?” Shikamaru asked.
“No, not really.” Shika knew just by the response that Naruto wasn’t going to be back anytime soon.
“Alright,” he prepared to hang up.
Before he could though Naruto started speaking again, “Shika, I miss you.”
Shikamaru smiled and his voice was warm when he replied, “Me too.”
“What ever it is, don’t let it bother you too much. Bye.”
Shikamaru hung up and everyone gathered around him.
“What did he say?” Neji asked.
“That he’s fine.”
“Is he coming back soon?” asked Sai.
“I didn’t get that impression.”
Kiba frowned, “But you didn’t ask him.”
“No, I didn’t. I already asked him the first time he called. I have no intention of pushing and lengthening the time he’s gone because he feels annoyed or under pressure.”
Sakura sniffed, “*I* would have asked.”
Shikamaru’s eye twitched and he tapped his finger on the computer table, “And I’m not you, nor did he ask for you, so I suppose that says something.”
She opened her mouth to say something else and Shikamaru held up a finger, “Listen to me because I will only say this once, Sakura. You are dangerously close to me losing my patience with you. Think carefully about what you’re going to say to and around me because if you continue to annoy me I will make sure you regret it.”
Sakura backed down. Shikamaru was very lazy and laid back but when you hit a sore point with him or made him upset and continued to push that was it. Everyone knew that.
Everyone spent the rest of the day at his house hanging out and relaxing. Occasionally they looked at him warily.
A/N: I'm going to change my updates from every three days to at least once a week since apparently every three days isn't working.
Prism0467: LOL. I'm afraid that might be the last of Haku we see in that way with Naruto.
Anon: Thank you. Happy to oblige.
itanaru4eva: Thank you. There will be some switching up though.
Deviouslildevil: Thank you. Shika's my favourite character too. I've always liked Haku and Zabuza so I decided to add them in. Naruto will be returning in a couple of chapters.
Shikamaru sat in the booth of a diner a week after Naruto called with Neji, Kiba, Ino, Sakura, and Sai, they had all decided to do brunch. His eye was lovely shades of brown and yellow and his friends still wouldn’t let him live it down, a part of him was secretly pleased that Sasuke looked worse for wear- there was no way he would lose to that brat, ever.
He swirled the house fries on his plate in some ketchup and popped some in his mouth before frowning.
Neji’s pale eyes looked up at him and he asked, “What’s wrong?”
Shikamaru pointed at his plate, “The food tastes bad.”
Kiba let out a bark of laughter, “Anything would after eating Naruto’s food, and you’ve been doing it for how long? When was the last time you had takeout?”
“Years,” Shikamaru replied blandly.
His friends stared at him with looks of shock and disbelief on their faces.
“Seriously?” Ino asked, “Naruto cooked for you every day?”
Shikamaru nodded, “Yeah.”
“What? What about when he was with Sasuke? Sometimes he’d stay over there for days,” Kiba said.
Shikamaru shrugged, “Ready made meals in the fridge and freezer, I just actually ran out.”
More looks of shock went around.
“What? How could you let him do that?” Ino asked.
“I didn’t,” Shikamaru replied, “Naruto chose to himself. He wanted to cook and he’d get upset if I offered to or brought in takeout so I let him cook. It was too troublesome to argue over something both of us were fine with.”
Neji nodded, “Then what will you do? Are you going to finish eating or make something later?”
“I’ll make something later.”
***
After brunch the friends made their way to Naruto and Shika’s apartment.
“I love your view,” Ino said while standing with Sakura at the floor to ceiling windows in the living room.
Shikamaru continued making his sandwich without saying anything. She had given her opinion and he didn’t need to say anything, he wasn’t the one that made the view he had simply bought the apartment with Naruto. He finished adding the condiments to his sandwich and brought it to the couch where all the guys were, Kiba was in front of their television setting up their video game console and crooning over all their games.
Sai sat beside him, “Have you heard from Naruto since the last time, has he called back?”
The room went silent and turned to Shikamaru as one for his response. Shika shook his head, “No, I haven’t heard from him.”
Sakura growled, “How can you be so calm about this, he’s your best friend isn’t he?”
Shikamaru looked lazily in her direction, “Are you implying something? I’m calm because he has called me and told me he’s safe, I’m calm because I know he’ll come back when he’s ready.”
Sakura clenched her fists, “And that’s another thing! How could he do something so stupid and immature?! How dare he leave just because Sasuke broke up with him *again*, it’s not like there’s anything new there. He’s got some nerve for putting us through this, it’s so selfish of him!”
The Nara’s jaw clenched and everybody looked at him nervously before looking warily back at Sakura. Kiba came up to him and put a hand on his arm, sending Sakura a glare, “Sakura that was too far. Everybody in this room knows what Sasuke put Naruto through for 8 years. You know that this time the break up is permanent; if anybody deserves a break Naruto does, we are all worried for him.”
“Oh please,” she scoffed, “Naruto wasn’t the only one that went through shit in his relationship yet Sasuke is still here. Naruto is only running and it’s really selfish and stupid of him. I thought he got over the idiot phase in high school.”
Everyone in the room was surprised when Ino spoke next, “Sakura, be quiet. You’re only saying this because you like Sasuke and couldn’t understand why he went out with Naruto instead of you. You’re being very rude.”
“I am not!” Sakura started protesting.
“Sakura,” Shikamaru said raising a hand to stop her from continuing, “Ino is right. It was Naruto, not Sasuke, that helped you with your work and was your friend all through high school and university. Sasuke couldn’t and wouldn’t because he’s too self-absorbed. If you really want to go this route and betray Naruto’s friendship like this over a crush that’s not going to go anywhere then just go and don’t bother coming back.”
The words were said in a completely calm monotone that had everybody staring at Shikamaru. The room was completely silent for a few minutes while everyone waited to see what Sakura would do. The silence was broken when the phone started ringing.
Shikamaru pushed himself off the couch and went to the phone on the computer table.
“Hello?”
The other line was quiet for a moment, “Hi, Shikamaru...Are you okay?”
“Naruto,” his voice was flat. Everybody in the apartment turned to him.
“What’s wrong, Shika?” Naruto asked, “Why do you sound like that?”
“Nothing much, just somebody being stupid where they’ve got no ground to be,” he said, staring directly at Sakura. She flinched.
“Okay…?” He could hear the caution in Naruto’s voice and knew that Naruto wasn’t sure quite how to handle this since he didn’t know what was happening. He remained silent since he had nothing to say.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Naruto asked.
“No,” Shikamaru replied, the two of them didn’t need to be annoyed by Sakura’s words.
“Okay. Well I was just calling to let you know that I’m alright.” Naruto said.
“That’s good. Our friends are here, do you want to talk to any of them?” Shikamaru asked.
“No, not really.” Shika knew just by the response that Naruto wasn’t going to be back anytime soon.
“Alright,” he prepared to hang up.
Before he could though Naruto started speaking again, “Shika, I miss you.”
Shikamaru smiled and his voice was warm when he replied, “Me too.”
“What ever it is, don’t let it bother you too much. Bye.”
Shikamaru hung up and everyone gathered around him.
“What did he say?” Neji asked.
“That he’s fine.”
“Is he coming back soon?” asked Sai.
“I didn’t get that impression.”
Kiba frowned, “But you didn’t ask him.”
“No, I didn’t. I already asked him the first time he called. I have no intention of pushing and lengthening the time he’s gone because he feels annoyed or under pressure.”
Sakura sniffed, “*I* would have asked.”
Shikamaru’s eye twitched and he tapped his finger on the computer table, “And I’m not you, nor did he ask for you, so I suppose that says something.”
She opened her mouth to say something else and Shikamaru held up a finger, “Listen to me because I will only say this once, Sakura. You are dangerously close to me losing my patience with you. Think carefully about what you’re going to say to and around me because if you continue to annoy me I will make sure you regret it.”
Sakura backed down. Shikamaru was very lazy and laid back but when you hit a sore point with him or made him upset and continued to push that was it. Everyone knew that.
Everyone spent the rest of the day at his house hanging out and relaxing. Occasionally they looked at him warily.
A/N: I'm going to change my updates from every three days to at least once a week since apparently every three days isn't working.
Prism0467: LOL. I'm afraid that might be the last of Haku we see in that way with Naruto.
Anon: Thank you. Happy to oblige.
itanaru4eva: Thank you. There will be some switching up though.
Deviouslildevil: Thank you. Shika's my favourite character too. I've always liked Haku and Zabuza so I decided to add them in. Naruto will be returning in a couple of chapters.