Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

The Things That Don't Match	By : writeaddict Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1411 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I make any money from this story.

Chapter List
- 18
- 19
- 20
Chapter 19

Shikamaru nearly choked on hysterical laughter when he heard Naruto say, “I love you”. He didn’t realize it would hurt so much. Perhaps that was why he stopped saying it. Had he forgotten? No, he hadn’t forgotten, he had just wanted to say it at least once in the way he meant it even if Naruto didn’t get it- even if Naruto didn’t mean it back the way Shikamaru wanted him to.

***

On Saturday morning Naruto woke to pounding on his door. He groaned and rolled over on his bed, pulling a pillow over his head. When the knocking still didn’t stop he got up and stalked over to the front door before yanking it open.

“What is it?” he growled.

Neji, Kiba, Ino, Sai, Hinata, Lee, Tenten, Shino, Gaara, and Chouji stood on the other side of the door. Naruto blinked at the sight of them all standing there and ran a hand through his hair.

“Guys...” he trailed off.

Ino grinned up at him and shoved her way past him into his apartment, “Looking good, Naruto. Not that I don’t appreciate the view, cause I definitely do, but why are you only in boxers?”

Naruto closed his eyes and brought a hand up to rub at his temple, “Perhaps because I was sleeping? Guys, now really isn’t a good time.”

Kiba brushed past him, punching him on the shoulder lightly, “Of course it is. Don’t worry, we come bearing gifts.” At the words Chouji lifted up a bag filled with food so Naruto could see it.

Naruto sighed and stepped aside for them, the rest of his friends filed in.

Neji stopped and looked at him, really looked at him. Neji noted the pale pallor of Naruto’s normally caramel skin, the bags under his eyes, and the bones that now seemed to stick out- the blonde was losing weight.

“Are you alright?” Neji asked.

Naruto nodded, “I’m fine, just tired.”

“Have you gone to Shikamaru? He helps you sleep better, correct?”

Naruto nodded absentmindedly, “Shika’s been busy.”

Neji’s eyebrows shot up, “He’s never too busy for you.”

Naruto shrugged and turned away so Neji let the subject drop, he didn’t want to make his friend uncomfortable after all. But something was amiss, Neji decided to keep an eye on Naruto and Shikamaru for now, he’d see if further action would need to be taken.

***

Soon after everyone had settled on various surfaces in the apartment, and Naruto put some clothes on, a door opened. Everyone’s head swiveled towards him and tracked his movements. They watched the loose-haired man walk to the computer in the living room, a laptop braced on his hip. He connected the two computers with a cord and started typing rapidly. His hair fell into his face and he made an annoyed sound before pulling it back into it’s usual pony.

“You know,” Ino mused from the couch, “I’ve never seen you with your hair down. It’s kind of hot.”

“Hey!” Kiba protested, “Still here.”

Sai twisted his body from his spot on the floor so he could look at her, “Didn’t you two date? How have you never seen it? You never took showers together?”

Shikamaru looked up at the voices and his gaze traveled over everyone in the room before he went back to what he was doing, “Hey.”

“Shikamaru!” Lee bellowed, “You came just in time to have a youthful breakfast with us!”

Shikamaru winced, “Lee, I live here. It’s nice to see you too.”

Lee opened his mouth to say something else when Tenten punched him, “Such a hard punch! The spirit of your youth is-”

“Shut up!” TenTen yelled.

“Well then,” Naruto hurriedly stood up to stop the impending yelling match, “Shall we get started on breakfast? Shikamaru, would you help me?”

Naruto started toward the kitchen where Chouji had stored the food, when he didn’t hear footsteps behind him he turned around. Shikamaru was still sitting.

“Shika?” he tentatively asked.

Shikamaru shook his head, “I can’t right now. I’m in the middle of this, if I stop right now then I’m going to have to start over.”

The room went silent and Neji’s eyes narrowed. Shikamaru rarely ever refused Naruto anything, he almost never said no to him even if it was at his own inconvenience- the man was a genius, anything could be done later or rescheduled if Naruto wanted or needed anything. The group looked from Naruto to Shikamaru with various expressions from disbelief to suspicion on their faces.

Naruto looked at Shikamaru with wide blue eyes, something close to distress in his expression before he turned away, “Okay. Sorry to have bothered you.”

Hinata stood up abruptly, “I’ll h-h-help you, N-naruto-kun.” The lavender-eyed girl looked between Naruto and Shikamaru, brows crinkled in confusion before looking at her cousin. Neji’s head was tilted curious as his gaze flickered between the two. “Fighting?” he mouthed at her, “Just watch.”

Hinata nodded at the silent words, showing that they had been understood before following Naruto into the kitchen.

She found the blonde leaning against a counter with a dazed expression on his face, “A-a-are you alright, Naruto-kun?”

The blonde robotically turned toward her and quietly said, “I, I don’t know.”

Hinata frowned, worried, “Naruto?”

The blonde blinked and seemed to snap out of it, “Oh! Sorry, Hinata. I’m fine,” he flashed a smile at her and lifted up two of the breakfast platters, “Can you get that last platter for me? I can come back...”

Hinata shook her head, “I’m f-fine, I-I-I got it.” She picked up the platter and followed him, placing it on the dining room table.

On the platters were pastries, fruit, breads, crackers, cheeses and thin slices of different kinds of meat. Naruto started making plates up based on what his friends liked, when he finished making the plate he called their name to pick it up. He finished the last of his friends’ plates and spoke, “There’s water and juice in the kitchen if you want it; I can make tea or juice though if anyone prefers it. Sakura.”

The room got quiet and Naruto looked up to find everyone staring at him. Chouji broke the silence, “Naruto, maybe you should eat something, Sakura’s not here.”

Naruto looked around the room and blinked, “Oh, I must be more tired than I thought,” Naruto sat down and closed his eyes, “She still mad at me then?”

Chouji started sweating and tried to keep his voice neutral, “Um, well, you’ve never spoken to her like that before. Usually she just runs all over you,”

Naruto let out a huff of laughter, “Yeah? Maybe I should apologize then.”

“Are you kidding?” Ino screeched, “Naruto, you were brilliant! Sakura badly needed that lesson. Yes, we’re all her friends and we care about her but she needs to learn a little something about loyalty. We don’t owe her anything, we are friends with her because we want to be. She needs to learn not to take advantage of the people that are always there simply because they let her. Sakura needs to stop being a sore loser, you coddled her way too much, Naruto. You should have put a stop to the Sasuke crush thing a long time ago or at least talked to her about it. And she knows how you get about keeping friendships and pleasing your friends so she just kept taking advantage of you.”

“What about you?” Naruto asked, “You liked Sasuke too, didn’t you?”

Ino crossed her arms and sank further into the sofa cushions, “Yeah but I got over it and grew up. I learned to see what’s in front of me. I’m with Kiba now and even though he’s a pain in the ass we work. Sasuke would never have liked me back, you were the only one able to reach him and all that did was mess both of you up. I don’t think Sasuke’s ready for a relationship and Sakura’s still hanging on to a childhood crush that will go nowhere.”

“I love you too, Ino,” Kiba grouched, “Like you’re any easier to deal with than I am.”

Ino leaned over and kissed her boyfriend hard, both of them pulled away slightly breathless and she sat in his lap, arranging both of their plates so nothing would spill or drop, “Shut up,” she retorted. Kiba shut up.

Neji stirred slightly in his seat beside Shino, “Ino has a point, Naruto. You don’t need to apologize. You probably will anyway but at least wait until she apologizes first. You chose how you would deal with her so at least don’t fold. If you get soft on her now you’ll lose all the respect she has for you and any progress you might have made in getting her to think about what you said.”

The next couple of hours passed by with quiet camaraderie, everyone did their own thing; some watched t.v, some talked quietly, some dozed. Throughout it all everyone noticed the string of tension between Naruto and Shikamaru.

Naruto was about to go into the kitchen to make lunch when Shino stopped him, “Why are you guys fighting?”

Naruto froze before he scratched the back of his head and laughed, “Fighting? We’re not fighting.”

“Yes you are,” Sai tilted his head and looked up at him from his spot on the floor, “Shikamaru hasn’t spoken a voluntary word to you today and has been ignoring you, you keep looking at him like your guilty of something but haven’t been bothering him like you usually would if someone was mad at you. Thus you are fighting, or at least having a disagreement.”

Naruto looked helplessly toward Shikamaru. “So what happened?” Kiba asked, “You guys are like the perfect couple.”

Naruto frowned and shook his head before making his way over to Shikamaru, “Can we talk in the kitchen?”

Shikamaru looked up briefly before looking back at the computer, “Naruto, we’ve already talked. This,” he pointed at the computer, “still needs to be finished.”

“Shika, please.”

“Okay. In my bedroom, just give me a few minutes to stop this at an acceptable point.”

As soon as the two disappeared inside of Shikamaru’s bedroom all of the others listened at the door.

“Are you punishing me?” Naruto asked.

Shikamaru sat down on his bed, propped himself up on the headboard, “No.”

“Are you angry at me then?”

Shikamaru sighed, “I haven’t been angry at you since the time I left.”

“But you’re angry.”

“Not at you, Naruto. I’m angry at myself, I’ve already told you this much.”

Naruto made a frustrated sound, “I don’t understand.”

“I know.”

“Then explain it to me!”

Shikamaru shook his head, “I can’t.”

“You can’t or you won’t?”

“Both, Naruto, both.”

Naruto growled, “Why?”

Shikamaru roughly dragged his fingers through his hair and his voice rose even though he didn’t want it to, “Because you don’t want me to!”

Naruto looked confused for a moment before he hissed back, “Yes, I do! I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t!”

Shikamaru took a deep breath, calmed down a bit and regulated his voice, “You really don’t, Naruto. I know you. Just let it go. I’m telling you everything is fine and yet you keep prodding at me. You are being troublesome. Let it go, things are fine the way they are now, don’t make a problem where there is none.”

“But-”

Shikamaru stood and pulled Naruto into a tight hug, the blonde alternatively melted and clung to him, “I know,” he murmured into Naruto’s ear, “Nothing is going to change, I’ll still be here regardless. I’m not leaving.”

Naruto made a small sound in his throat and Shikamaru held him tighter as his fingers absently massaged at tense muscles, “I know I got angry and left but it won’t happen again. At the very least I will talk to you if I feel the need to leave. Trust me.”

“Alright.”

It was a whisper but it was a response. Shikamaru smiled, “Good. Then let’s tell our eavesdropping friends that we’re fine.”

Said friends looked at each other and raced to seats to make it seem like they weren’t just listening in on the pair’s conversation.

“How does he always know?” Ino whispered.

The door opened and Shikamaru looked at them, raising an eyebrow, “How could I not? Plus we keep cameras in the house.”

“WHAT?”
A/N: A long chapter for you guys. Shika/Naru won the vote by a landslide so most of you are probably pleased. I will stick to my original story outline. For those of you who wrote more than Shika/Naru in their reviews, I have replied here: http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/20447-the-things-that-dont-match/ . All of my reviews and any questions you have about the story will be answered there, you can write questions there too. Some of you all came up with some really cool suggestions so please check for my response there. Thanks for reading.
- 18
- 19
- 20
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Things That Don't Match