So Hollow

Chapter 4

Naruto woke to the sound of his alarm going off which he promptly threw across the room. With a sigh he rolled out of bed and got up to get ready. He took a shower and got dressed with a pair of heavy black cargo pants and a black shirt that screamed ‘foxy’ in orange writing.

Truthfully he was a little nervous about seeing Shikamaru again after the kiss. He liked Shikamaru as a friend, but Naruto didn’t want him to expect anything from him. Walking to school, Naruto pondered this predicament. He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night from thinking about it.

He arrived at school with 15 minutes to kill so he headed up to the roof. Shikamaru was sitting apart from the others a little and his bored face was quickly broken with a smile when he saw Naruto. Kiba and Lee hollered out there hellos while the others politely nodded.

Shikamaru was debating on whether or not he should go to class so he could hang around Naruto more. He wanted Naruto to just hang out with them all day, but it seemed like he was intent on actually going to class. The bell rang and Naruto stood up and surprisingly Shikamaru. The other boys looked at him curiously and Naruto blushed. Shikamaru didn’t bother to explain and just went with Naruto.

All of Shikamaru’s and Naruto’s teachers were surprised to see Shikamaru actually in class. Granted, he still didn’t pay attention- he was to busy giving discrete glances in Naruto’s direction- but at least he was there. Naruto was ignorant enough to not notice the glances although it did make the teachers roll their eyes. It appeared that although Naruto had a positive effect on Shikamaru by getting him to go to class but was distracting him from the class.

At lunch they went up to see the rest of their friends and they convinced Naruto that he could skip health since Kakashi didn’t really care if the students were there or not. They mostly goofed off and questioned Naruto about his past which he had so far managed to evade. No one else noticed how Naruto skillfully diverted the conversation away from it except for Shikamaru.

When the day finally ended, Shikamaru casually looped his arm over Naruto’s shoulder. This time even Lee took notice of this and stared wide eyed for a second before he hopped around happily talking about eternal youth. They headed towards a local arcade before they pulled up short unexpectedly, making Naruto look around curiously.

Leaning against the arcade were five guys in their early twenties. They turned their heads to Shikamaru’s group and Shikamaru’s arm around Naruto instantly tightened and pulled Naruto closer and slightly behind him. The tallest in the group had red hair and piercings all over him. On his left stood a guy with long black hair and apathetic dark eyes, and just next to him stood a tall and bulky man with weird blue hair and three tattooed lines resembling slits under the outer corner of his eyes.

To the right of the red headed man was a blond haired guy with a patch over his left eye and just next to him a younger guy with blood red hair and a tattoo over his left eye that Naruto couldn’t make out. Even Lee had stopped talking and was glowering at the guys who were now pushing themselves away from the wall.

“Ah, Nara, what a coincidence in seeing you here!” Said the red headed man

“Pein.” Replied Shikamaru evenly. Pein? Naruto thought, what a weird name.

Pein’s eyes flicked to Naruto and he smirked. “New member Shikamaru? This one is cute.”

Shikamaru pushed Naruto fully behind him and glowered at the guys as Pein’s men snickered. Naruto tried to peak around him in curiosity but Kiba and Lee blocked him.

“What are you doing here Pein?” Shikamaru snarled.

“Now, now Nara, this isn’t anyone’s territory. You have no claim to it.”

“Neither do you.”

Pein grinned at Shikamaru, “I’m just scoping it out for possible future transactions.”

“I don’t think so.” Shikamaru snarled out.

Naruto was starting to have a bad feeling about this. He elbowed Kiba in the side and whispered to him, “Who are those guys?”

“They’re part of the Akatsuki gang and that Pein guy is the leader.” Kiba whispered back.

“Gang?” Naruto asked. “Does that mean you guys are a gang, too?”

This time it was Neji who answered, leaning closer to whisper in his ear. “No, Naruto, we are just against the gang Akatsuki. We don’t do what normal gangs do-“

He was cut off by the blue haired guy, “Except beating people up.”

Glaring at him, Neji continued, “We don’t beat up innocent people.”

Shikamaru turned abruptly and started to drag Naruto away from the arcade while the rest of his friends followed. The Akatsuki looked on with amusement, snickering as Naruto glanced back over his shoulder at them.

Once they were out of sight from the arcade Shikamaru loosened his hold on Naruto, but didn’t let go. He nodded to his friends who got the hint and cheerfully waved goodbye to Naruto and Shikamaru before walking off like nothing had happened. Naruto was very confused and turned to Shikamaru for answers.

Shikamaru shook his head, “We’ll talk back at my place.” Naruto nodded his head and they walked to Shikamaru’s with his arm still around Naruto. It made Naruto feel slightly uncomfortable, not because it was Shikamaru, but because he didn’t know what Shikamaru expected from him.

When they got there, Shikamaru’s parents weren’t there so they just headed up to his room Shikamaru collapsed onto the bed and stared at the ceiling while Naruto stood, feeling awkward. This was a moment of truth for Shikamaru of whether Naruto would continue to be his friend or not.

Sighing, Shikamaru sat up and looked at Naruto. “What do you want to know?”

Hesitating, Naruto answered slowly, “So…you guys aren’t a ‘gang’?”

Shikamaru shook his head. “No, Naruto, we just don’t get along with Akatsuki.”

“But you…beat up people?”

Shikamaru grabbed Naruto’s arm and yanked him onto the bed with him, straddling his waist and pinning his arms above his head. Naruto looked shocked and tried to squirm away, he could feel the hard muscles in Shikamaru’s larger frame and it made him feel very intimidated.

Leaning over, Shikamaru spoke into his ear. “Yes, Naruto. But it’s not like we’re bullies, we fight the guys who hurt our friends. It just so happens that those guys happen to be gang members and we have no problems hurting them. We even enjoy it a little.” The last part he whispered and purposefully brushed his lips against Naruto’s ear.

Blushing, Naruto turned his head to try and escape the hot breath. Shikamaru laughed lowly and kissed Naruto’s neck, making Naruto shiver in pleasure or tension even Naruto didn’t know. It was like Naruto’s body was hyper sensitive and every place Shikamaru touched was sending electric jolts into his body.

“Do you still want to be friends with us, Naruto?” Shikamaru questioned, leaning away from the soft skin of Naruto’s neck to look Naruto in the eye.

“Yes…but just friends…” Naruto replied softly.

Shikamaru frowned and leaned back down to whisper into his ear again, “Are you sure, Na-ru-to?” He drew his name out teasingly and then pressed his lips against Naruto’s again, wanting nothing more than to devour his lips. Naruto moaned and then turned his head sharply to the side.

“Please, Shika, just friends. I want to be your friend. I’m not ready for anything more.” Naruto looked pleadingly up at Shikamaru and squirmed, trying to get free from the iron grasp Shikamaru had on his wrists.

“Shika?” Shikamaru asked, Naruto blinked, then smiled and nodded. “Alright, Naru-chan, we can be ‘just friends.’” Naruto looked relieved as Shikamaru withdrew his body from Naruto’s.

“Now let’s play some games.” They slumped into the bean bags and were soon acting normal again. It was weird that they both thought of it as normal since they had only known each other for a few days, but that was what was how they viewed it.

Shikamaru walked Naruto home again, making sure he didn’t do anything to make Naruto feel uncomfortable like holding his hand, putting his arm around his shoulder, grabbing that firm ass… Shikamaru mentally shook his head to dispel the thoughts.

At the door Naruto smiled and turned to say good night but was unable to due to the lips pressing against his own. He tried to pull away put Shikamaru grabbed the back of his head. The kiss was short and there was no tongue involved but it was intense all the same.

It seemed like an eternity when Shikamaru finally pulled away, “See you tomorrow.” He said and then walked off down the walk, making sure to turn and wave at the stunned Naruto on the doorstep. Naruto didn’t know what to think anymore, he wanted Shikamaru as a friend, and it was making him nervous that Shikamaru was acting like this. He would have to talk to him at school tomorrow.


Ha-ha, if you reorganize the letters in “Pein’s” you get “Penis.” I feel like Sai.
You can vote more than once!

This is the vote so far:

A) I want to read just Shikamaru x Naruto: 21
B) One-sided Sasuke x Naruto: 5
C) One-sided Gaara x Naruto: 11
D) One-sided Other x Naruto: Itachi: 5
Shino: 1

So please review! The fifth chapter is the last chapter you can vote for the one sided pairing, or just ShikaNaru pairing!