Chapter 10
“Of course you’re here in the end, Naruto.”
“Shikamaru,” Naruto breathes and turns to find Shikamaru, his soulmate, stretched out on top of the stone with his head pillowed on his arms and staring at the sky.
“Did you know I would be here?” The Nara closes his eyes and hums thoughtfully before smiling up at him.
“I should have. You have a knack for showing up in places at the last moment, but when you go back, tell Ino and Choji that breaking promises isn’t very nice. On second thought,” he frowns and sits up. The genius leans back on his hands, still not looking at Naruto, instead the familiar pensive gaze remains on his face. “I don’t want them to think I am angry at them.”
For once, the laziness and apathy get to him. He’d always seen Shikamaru unbothered and pretty cool, but this makes him angry. He wants to hurt him, wants to wipe that uncaring look on his face and he crosses the distance in two strides and drags the genius up by his jacket and shakes him.
“You fucking idiot!” He yells, attempting to slam some sense into the man he’s shaking back and forth.
“N-Naruto?” Shikamaru manages to get out, his hands closing around the blond’s wrist in an attempt to slow him down.
“Don’t you Naruto me, you asshole.” Naruto snarls but slows down until the genius is able to look him in the face. “You don’t get to take the easy way out! So fucking lazy. Is it too troublesome to be my soulmate!”
“Naruto.” The gentle way the other says his name shatters something inside him and he can feel the tears begin to pour down his face. His hands are fisted in Shikamaru’s flak jacket and his head tips forward to rest on the other’s shoulders.
“No, you don’t get to leave. Why didn’t you tell me? I asked you. I trusted you to tell me and you didn’t. Why didn’t you tell me it would kill you? Why do you make these choices without me?!”
Shikamaru shoves and the blond stumbles back several feet. The Nara seems angry at first, but the downward twist of his lips tell Naruto he’s in pain. It doesn’t make the next words any easier.
“Because you should have a choice on who you love!” Naruto has never heard Shikamaru yell, not in anger. He’s heard him whine and complain, but the anger that’s making his shoulders heave is new. “Because I thought you loved Sasuke and I didn’t want to be the one to tie you down! Everyone has always taken away your choice! So fuck me if I didn’t want to be the one to do it!”
And Naruto flashes from grief to anger once again, even if he realizes that this, the man in front of him, this is the essence of who his soulmate is. Self-sacrificing and too much thought that he fails to see the impact he has on others outside of strategy. This time when he closes the distance, it’s to attempt to knock some sense into him. The two crash to the ground in a heap of flailing limbs and even if they are in Shikamaru’s mind it hurts. Naruto catches an elbow in his nose as they roll and when they come to a stop, he sees the genius’ lip split in the corner.
“Naruto!” It’s Ino’s voice that breaks through the haze of anger as he pins the Nara to the ground, hands on his shoulders to hold him down and Shikamaru’s legs wrapped around his waist as he attempts to throw him. He’s planted though, enough that he feels the tug against him that says Ino is trying to get him out.
“No! I’m fine! We’re fine!” He says instead and fights. “Just a little longer.”
“Idiot,” Shikamaru grunts beneath him, still attempting to throw him. “I should just knock you out so she can drag you back. She thinks I’m trying to kill you.”
“Funny considering you’re the one pinned and you look worse than I do.” Naruto should not be gleeful. The carousel of emotions he’s been on will definitely wear on him later but for now he grins because he has Shikamaru beneath him and if he’s going to do anything before he leaves, he’s going to make the other one listen.
“Get off me,” the man grunts and twists but the way he’s pinned leaves him little room and he eventually just gives up. Naruto nearly pitches forward but catches himself before he gives Shikamaru enough room to get free.
“Not until you listen. You’re right. I didn’t choose a lot of things in my life,” he pants. “But you’re taking away my choice now.”
“I told you!”
“Shut up! You didn’t! You told me you loved me, and maybe you tried to tell me but you know I don’t think like you. My parents took my choice away when they sealed the nine-tails in me. Everyone made the choice to hate me. The Hokage and anyone else who knew, including you, decided not to tell me my name was on your wrist.”
“I-”
“No! You had a choice! You chose not to tell me and I know why you did. You were right. If anyone found out I would have done anything to get back to you. If anything had happened to you, it would have released the Kyuubi. I know that! Just like you chose to try to tell me. Just like you chose not to tell me what would happen if I decided to love Sasuke.”
“You kept going on about him!” This time, Naruto doesn’t stop him from speaking up, but it’s because he can see the need for the other to say what’s on his mind. “You smiled the brightest smiles because of him, why was I going to take it away?” The blond watches as tears well up in the Nara’s eyes before falling down his cheeks. “How was I supposed to compete with that? I knew when I told you, you’d be angry. You’d hate me, and I wasn’t wrong. I deserved it because I was no better than anyone else. I was supposed to be different, your perfect match and I am just like everyone else who thinks they know what’s best for you.” By now, Shikamaru’s voice is a soft whisper and all Naruto can do is stare as his own tears well up again. “I told you Naruto, if you did anything, to love your person for who they were and that it didn’t matter if your name was on their wrist or not.”
Silence drops between them again and Shikamaru sighs. “I’m tired, Naruto. The clouds are so pretty up here, but you’re prettier. I’ve accepted it, can’t you?” Naruto’s tongue feels thick in mouth and he’s unable to find the words. He wants to say so many things, and yet, what can he say? Looking up, he can see more of Konoha shrouded in darkness and shadows and knows that they don’t have much longer. Shikamaru has made his choice, once again. Once again, he’s made a choice that affects both of them and Naruto is unsurprised when he feels the growl finally bubble up in his throat.
“You are the dumbest, smart person I know,” he growls and takes a brief moment to appreciate the wide-eyed stare of the other before he presses their lips together. It’s harsher than their desperate kisses from before. His teeth knock against Shikamaru’s and he can taste the blood from his lip before he pulls away. “There you go, making choices on your own again without me. And no, I don’t accept it. Everyone says they want to stay by my side now, everyone but I want to be by yours. You. I need you, and if it means leaving with you, then I will. That is my choice.”
“You’d really do all of that for me, Naruto?”
“In a heartbeat. You said to love the person for them, not because my name was on their wrist. I could always live without Sasuke, I have lived without him, but I can’t without you. The world is not right without you, Shikamaru.” The kiss they share this time is gentle, and Naruto makes a note to repeat it when it’s not just in their minds.
“Troublesome man,” the genius breathes when they part and when Naruto looks around, he can see the world is just a little brighter. “Who am I to argue with that?”
Naruto finds himself grinning as Shikamaru takes his chin and presses their lips together again.
—xOx—
This time there is no tug on his body. One moment, he’s kissing Shikamaru and the next, he’s waking up in a room surrounded by his family and friends. Inoichi exhales softly and nearly falls back but Shikaku’s leg against his back keeps him up. Ino looks just as tired as her, Sakura and Choji hover over Naruto and seem to be checking him over.
“Well?” Ino prompts as Sakura begins to heal his nose and Naruto exhales before turning his head. Shikamaru’s eyes are still closed, but there is more color in his cheeks. He knows it’s from the chakra he gave him however.
“I don’t know… I found him. He didn’t argue with me but…”
“He was very troublesome about it.” It’s barely a whisper, but in the silence of the tent, all eyes turn to the man resting against Naruto’ shoulder. Brown eyes slit open, staring at the people around before he lets out a mildly annoyed sigh. “Did you have to hit me so hard?”
And Naruto laughs, even as he drags his soulmate into a kiss, even as he feels Shikamaru sigh against his lips, his laughter trickles out and yea, Naruto knows he made the right choice.