Yoshino and Shikaku were worried about their son. It was a common trait for Naras to be lazy; what Yoshino has learned is that that means you need to force them to do anything, but once they started a task, they were going to finish it normally at their own pace. Shikaku was a prime example of that, he was a dedicated shinobi, jonin commander, head of the Nara clan, and still takes care of the deer. That being said once he got free time, that time was his to do as much or, more often than not, as little as he pleased. Shikamaru was like that as well but not quite the same. Shikamaru was constantly falling asleep, a habit that Yoshino hoped he would have grown out of by the time he started at the academy. He hadn’t yet, and it was causing Iruka-sensei to bring it up to them privately in a private meeting. The parents had Choza take their son home so their kids could spend more time together. The Nara’s sat across from Iruka-sensei waiting for him to explain the purpose of the meeting.
“I am going to start out by saying Shikamaru is incredibly smart”
“Iruka, we are aware our son is smart” Shikaku cut him off, a little out of character for the man but he wanted to get straight to the point
“Is Shikamaru sleeping alright? I only ask because he’s been falling asleep in class quite regularly”
“Could he just be bored with the subject matter?” Yoshino offered
“That is a possibility, I can give him harder assignments to work on but that is not going to change the lectures he’s sleeping through. I am fully aware of the Ino-Shika-Cho legacy that the village is trying to preserve but that might be stunting Shikamaru’s growth as a student” Iruka explained. “I don’t think he’s bored; I think it’s more of a focus issue. When we are doing something that he finds interesting I have his full attention, but when he’s not into it he passes out almost immediately until something or someone wakes him.”
Shikaku leaned back in his chair trying to figure out what this all meant. Nara’s were known to be lazy; it was a joke as much as it was a fact. However, they weren’t 'fall asleep surrounded by people' lazy, they were the last to finish anything because procrastination creates amazing results.
“We can’t move him to a higher level, even if he is smart enough to compete with his seniors, physically he wouldn’t be able to keep up and that would only lead to his peers either holding back or pushing him too hard”
“That is another issue with moving him up. I think for now our best bet is to keep an eye on this behaviour before we make any decisions” Iruka agreed
“I couldn’t agree more”
With that the three adults stood bowed to each other before heading their separate ways, Iruka going home for the night and the Nara’s heading towards the Akamichi compound.
When they arrived, they were greeted by Choji who upon seeing them let them in. Choza was in the kitchen cooking quietly and Choji walked towards the dining table where he had his homework spread out. Shikamaru was nowhere in sight. The Nara’s shared a look, normally while the Akamichi’s were calm that didn’t mean they were normally this quiet, this volume level was more common in the Nara compound. Choza saw them and smiled wiping his hands off on his apron he walked over to his long-time friends greeting them by hugging them both and placing a kiss on Yoshino's temple.
“Would you be interested in joining Choji and me for supper?” Choza asked
“Is Komi coming back tonight?” Yoshino asked eyes scanning around the room, looking for her son.
“She should be getting back sometime in the night, I made more than enough for her to have some when she comes home”
Shikaku took off his shoes slipping on the pair of slippers that he keeps there. He walked over to the table and pulled the chair out that was next to Choji’s. The boy was working on his history homework answering questions on a worksheet. He couldn’t help but notice that Shikamau’s bag was still by the entryway.
“I thought you and Shikamaru would have been playing” He simply says looking at the 9 nine-year-old.
“We were watching tv, but Shikamaru fell asleep, so I decided to leave him there” was the answer he got. Shikaku sighed standing up to go wake up his son. It had to be something more than just an attention issue, most nine-year-olds are glued to the tv, especially those annoying kids' shows that exist.
Shikaku stood in the archway of the living room seeing his son passed out on the couch. A smile grew on his face as he walked over squatting down next to his son and rubbed his back trying to wake up him. Shikamaru didn’t move right away panicking Shikaku, the father grabbed his son’s wrist finding his pulse checking to see if he was still alive. Shikamaru snapped awake trying to pull his tiny hand away from his father’s grip. Shikaku let go at the sudden movement watching as his son pushed himself up taking shaky breaths.
“Are you okay son?” He asked brushing the hair out of his son’s face, subtly checking for a fever. Shikamaru’s face turned red with embarrassment when he realized where he was.
“I’m fine” he muttered under his breath.
“Supper is almost ready so go get washed up” Shikaku excused his son watching the child run towards the bathroom as if he didn’t just wake up from a nap. Now that Shikaku was thinking about it he doesn’t remember his son being groggy after just being woken up, he filed that information away for later. He walked back into the dining room seeing that Choji had put away his homework and the table was set and ready for supper.
Every meal at the Akamichi compound was a feast. Food was extremely important to the family both for their jutsu and their family bond. Shikaku remembers the first year after the war he basically lived with them because Choza was concerned he wasn’t eating on his own. He sat in between Choza and Yoshino, waiting for the children to show up before they started eating. The longer they took the more anxious Shikaku grew, wondering if Shikamaru passed out again when the two boys showed up casually walking to the two remaining seats. They all said their thanks for the meal and started eating, Shikaku spent most of the meal gazing at his son trying to piece together what was happening to him.
That night Shikaku forced himself to stay up to see how Shikamaru slept. It was strange, to say the least; the child fell asleep quickly like always, but it wasn’t a peaceful sleep. His legs kept kicking out at random intervals. Shikaku filled out paperwork while checking his son periodically noticing that sometimes he would be lying there perfectly still before suddenly waking up. Sometimes he would the boy would notice his father and ask what time it was, and others he would just roll over calming his breathing before he passed out again.
Shikaku was absolutely exhausted by the morning, it’s been years since he had to pull an all-nighter and age is not a forgiving creature. He shared his findings with his wife as she made breakfast, and he finished his second cup of coffee.
“Maybe he’s being bullied at school” Yoshino suggested while she cut veggies into little cubes.
“He would have told us or Iruka would have told us yesterday or Choji and Ino would have said something to their fathers”
“What do we do then?” Yoshino asked pushing all of the cut veggies into the soup broth. She always made Miso soup when she thought Shikamaru wasn’t feeling well.
“Book an appointment at the hospital and see if there is anything they can do?” The man yawned “I feel like I am out of my depth on this”
Yoshino grabbed his arm giving it a comforting squeeze. Not taking her eyes off of the meal the two stood in a comforting silence. Shikamaru walked into the dining room taking his normal seat, while Shikaku and Yoshino set the table. They ate quietly for once Yoshino not scolding either of her boys about their table manners.
“Did you sleep well last night, baby?” She asked her son who just shrugged in response “That’s no way to talk to your mother now answer me” She snapped, worry eating away at her self-control. Shikaku hid his smile behind his third cup of coffee that morning.
“I slept like a normally do, although it could have been a dream, I could have sworn I saw Dad a few times” He dismissed turning back to the soup.
“You did see me a few times, I heard you wake up and wanted to see if you were okay” Shikamaru just nodded at his father’s words accepting the answer. “Is that normal for you? Waking up during the night?”
“It’s a drag, but it is what it is,” Shikamaru said brushing it off as normal expecting his parents to agree with him.
“Shika, sweetie, waking up in the middle of the night for no reason isn’t normal” Yoshino tried to explain making Shikamaru look at them with distrustful eyes as if they were pulling a joke on him.
“I’m going to pass by the hospital today and book you an appointment to see if we can find out what’s happening to you. Don’t worry too much, whatever it is we are here for you” Shikaku assured his son.
That started a long journey for the family. Over the years multiple tests, doctors, and different types of medication they figured out that he had some type of sleeping disorder. Shikamaru bitterly thought that if they would have listened to him earlier it wouldn’t have taken that long. Together the family developed schedules and systems that worked for him, unfortunately, that meant an afternoon nap and bedtime like he was still a child and an unreasonably early dinner. He hated it, the little changes that constantly reminded him that he was different than his friends. Few people outside of his family knew about his condition, his teammates and their immediate family obviously, and the Hokage. Team 10 didn’t treat him differently, which he appreciated more than they could understand. His other friends just accepted it as part of who the Nara was, most of them knew him from school and how he’d always be sleeping through the lectures so most just figured he was lazy. He hated that word now, how others would try to use it as a weapon to hurt him, and most times they would fail, but on bad days it would cut deep. He hated the couch that his father put in his office when he was younger, and he hated that it was now his office, and the couch was still there but his father wasn’t. He hated that even though Kakashi trusted him enough to be his advisor, the man didn’t trust him enough to allow him to go on high-ranked missions. But at the end of the day, Shikamaru was still a shinobi of Konoha, he was still the leader of the Nara clan, and he was still the unofficial strategist of the only Ino-Shika-Cho formation remaining.
Temari had been unexpected. He didn’t expect her to be the woman to weasel her way into his heart. Shikamaru closed himself off after his father’s death, to the point that even his mother couldn’t get him to get out of bed once he had time to process it. Maybe it was because she was the only person not to tiptoe around him afraid of saying the wrong thing and setting him off on a downward spiral. She was a direct woman which meant that Shikamaru didn’t need to spend effort thinking about what she wanted he just knew.
Their relationship was still new and developing, which meant that they were still learning things about each other. Shikamaru still hasn’t told Temari about his condition, not knowing how to bring it up in a way that wouldn’t change the way she acted around him. She was moving to the village permanently as an ambassador to Suna and the present members of the rookie nine wanted to go out to dinner and welcome her. When Sakura approached him with this plan, he was having lunch with his teammates, he could feel the side eye they were giving each other when Sakura said that it would be a later dinner. He agreed to it not wanting to be the reason Temari feels unwelcome and besides he can always eat before and leave early. When Sakura left both Ino and Choji asked him if he was sure about it knowing that being thrown off his routine took a while to recover from as they had seen him passed out in random locations after they would get back from stressful missions that required little to no sleep.
He was smart enough to plan around how his body craves sleep. The day that Temari was supposed to arrive Shikamaru lounged on the couch not waiting long for sleep to take him so he could have a nap before staying out late. He had no doubts he was going to be exhausted the next day, because of the slight deviation but he was an adult now he would just have to deal with it. He felt his limbs go limp, when he was younger it always freaked him out, the sudden loss of control. Shikamaru still gets nervous when his throat tightens, since the war he’s hallucinated several different people leaning over him suffocating him before he fully falls asleep or wakes up perfectly fine.
It was Sasuke kneeling on top of him covered in the curse marks he had when they were twelve. Shikamaru closed his eyes and opened them again, but he was still there. They were in the Forest of Death doing the Chunin Exams. The boy had just broken the sound village shinobi’s arms and turned on his allies. Sakura and Naruto were unconscious, Ino was bleeding out and Choji was covered in burns. Sasuke gripped him tighter and Shikamaru couldn’t move, he was defenseless, the Uchiha was throttling him as he tightened his grip. The boy was yelling at him, taunting him calling him a lazy bastard. Shikamaru regained control of his limbs sending out a punch toward the boy gasping ‘awake’ at the same time. He wasn’t in the Forest of Death he was in his office sleeping, Sasuke was who knows where it wasn’t real.
“What the fuck Shikamaru?” That was real. Temari was bent over holding her nose checking it to see if it was bleeding.
“Temari I’m so sorry I didn’t think you’d be here so early” She wasn’t supposed to arrive until later in the day one of the reasons why Sakura pushed for a later dinner.
“For once we didn’t run into any problems on the road” She answered finally letting go of her nose to see that it wasn’t broken or bleeding. “Nice to see you are still a wimp in hand-to-hand”
“You’re lucky I didn’t have my trench knives on me” Shikamaru is probably one of the few active shinobi that don’t sleep with a weapon near them, and that was because most of the time when he wakes up there is a brief moment when he can’t move any of his body so if an enemy shinobi did ambush him in his sleep there was little he could do right away.
“Nice to see that you’re working hard” It was a dig and they both knew it. Temari was pushing buttons hoping for a reaction probably trying to distract herself from leaving her home.
“Trying to be well rested for the dinner tonight, I don’t want to pass out in a bowl of rice”
“I’m glad you find my presence entertaining” she quipped back. This was more natural getting back into their normal banter. He was fairly sure Temari already knew about the group dinner plans, considering the odds she ran into Naruto on the way to his office. He looked at the wall-mounted clock and saw that it was later in the day than he would have liked to have napped, normally he sets an alarm for 30 minutes at the most but today he overslept by two hours. Shikamaru felt frustration grow inside of him knowing he was supposed to be with Kakashi greeting her upon arrival and no one thought to check in on him when he didn’t show.
“I have some paperwork that needs to be finished then we can head out and drop your stuff off” Shikamaru gestured to his desk as he stood cracking his back.
“It’s already taken care of, some genin team was tasked with dropping it off at the front gates of the Nara compound where your cousins took care of the rest”
“Nice to see we are using the genin teams for necessary missions” Shikamaru muttered. He was glad that he didn’t have to lug everything back home, but that meant more paperwork for him to explain the justification for using village resources on something so frivolous.
“You really know how to make a girl feel special” She sat on the corner of his desk picking up one of the few picture frames he had in his office. The one she grabbed was one with him and his dad, Shikamaru passed out on his dad’s lap in the field they had right next to the forest. He vaguely remembers that day, they were trying a new medication for him that ended up making him even sleepier and more spaced out like everything was moving underwater.
Shikamaru snapped himself out of the memory and went back to work focusing on the important pile leaving the others to be taken care of later. Just after a nap, Shikamaru knew he was at his most productive allowing him to breeze through several long-winded reports. Temari whistled at him, impressed with what he was accomplishing. After the 6th paper was finished, he stood up decided he was done for the day grabbing the stack he walked towards the door with Temari on his heels.
“The Hokage might want to keep me around if you are always this productive” She teased him.
Shikamaru let out an exasperated sigh but kept walking toward the Hokage’s office. It was a short walk, and Kakashi wasn’t there so he simply left the stack of papers on his desk and walked out. Temari was walking with him still not completely familiar with the layout of the building.
“Your office is set up right?”
“Yes, I did it myself while you were busy napping” Maybe her words were grating on him because of the stress, and the anxiety of keeping a secret from her.
“Good, we have a few hours before we have to head out for dinner is there anything you want to do?”
“You should probably change out of your uniform, then again what are the chances that you’d fall asleep the moment you see your bed?”
He didn’t answer her instead he led the way to the Nara compound. They were greeted by some of his great aunts who felt the need to embarrass Shikamaru more than he already was, he let them fuss over his hair and pull at his cheeks complaining that he was too skinny while gushing over how beautiful Temari was. He was used to the attention growing up as the heir to the clan and now as the clan head. He listened to them talk about how many babies Temari should give him before he cut them off.
“Okay that’s enough traumatizing our guest for one day”
Temari was laughing probably used to that kind of attention from her childhood.
“They seem nice”
“Vultures all of them,” he said loud enough for his Aunties would hear him, they started shouting back calling him a lazy boy.
That hurt. He shouldn’t be surprised, Shikamaru remembers growing up and overhearing his elders trying to convince his parents that there was nothing wrong with him and that he was just lazy or looking for attention. His mother was never one to argue against their clan’s elders knowing it ‘wasn’t her place’ but that didn’t stop his father. It was the only time he remembers hearing his father yell, and it meant the world to him that he was willing to go against his family to protect his son.
Despite being 18 Shikamaru still slept in his childhood bedroom, he refused to take over the master bedroom or move down the hall to the other wing of bedrooms and leave his mom alone. He called out to her letting his mother know they are home. Putting on his house shoes he noticed that all of Temari’s stuff was still in the entryway.
“I wasn’t sure which room to put her in” His mother explains causing a blush to appear on both Temari and Shikamaru’s faces. He pulled his mother into a hug kissing her temple.
“A guest room is fine” Temari responded grabbing one of the bags. Shikamaru took one himself and led her through the house towards the guest room that was away from the main bedrooms. It took a few trips to bring everything on but once it was there, he left her to get settled.
Shikamaru went back to his bedroom changing out of his uniform and into something more comfortable. He debated on letting his hair out but ultimately decided against it not wanting to have to bother redoing it when it was time to fall asleep. A yawn escaped his lips. Tonight wasn’t going to be easy on him. He must have zoned out or fallen asleep standing up because suddenly Temari was standing in the doorway scanning the room looking at every little detail.
“For some reason, I expected more. What’s that smell?” Shikamaru looked around knowing how bare his room was, the only thing that could be considered recreational in there was a shogi board. It was like that on purpose, they found out that if he had fewer distractions in his room, he’d be able to fall back asleep faster. He also couldn’t place what smell she was talking about, so he decided to ignore that part.
“I only use it for sleeping”
“I thought that’s what your office was for”
“One can never have too many resting places” He tried to sound philosophic saying that all it did was cause Temari to laugh at his words. He was taller than her now when he wasn’t slouched, he walked over and pulled her into a hug dropping his head onto her shoulder. “Welcome back Temari, I’m glad you are deciding to give Konoha a try” and in return give them a try.
“I can’t live in my little brothers' shadow any longer, and this seemed a good place to try to make it as my own person” She returned the hug holding him close against her body.
Breaking the hug, Shikamaru gripped one of her hands.
“Let’s go meet up with everyone before they send a search party looking for us”
“Where are we eating anyways?”
“This amazing seafood place that specializes in Squid” Shikamaru tried to hold back a laugh and Temari’s poorly hidden disgust. “I’m just kidding, it’s a new barbeque place that opened in the past month, Choji has been dying to try it out so consider yourself warned”
They walked together holding hands sharing stories back and forth. Shikamaru could tell that she already missed her brothers. Once they arrived, they saw Ino and Sai standing outside, probably waiting for the rest of the group. Ino lunged at him pulling him into a hug he was barely able to press a kiss into her temple before she abandoned him for Temari. Shikamaru shook Sai’s hand pulling him into a one-armed hug. Ino started a conversation about flowers with Temari, something about a new hybrid they are trying at the store. Choji and Karui showed up next, honestly, Shikamaru was surprised that they weren’t there first at the promise of food. Choji grabbed Shikamaru into a bone-crushing hug and then moved on to Temari giving her a gentler hug. Shikamaru only nodded at Karui not exactly sure where he stood with her, the relationship between her and Choji was still extremely new. Shortly the rest of the Rookie nine showed up, Sasuke nowhere to be seen.
The eleven of them took up the entire back room the restaurant had; it was dimly lit with comfortable chairs the heat from the grills made the room a cozy temperature. Shikamaru knew he was going to have a hard time staying awake. It was a rush to claim a spot, no one wanted to sit next to Naruto or Choji and have to fight for the meat. They sat the two biggest eaters at opposite ends of the table hoping to avoid any fighting between the two of them for food. Shikamaru took his place at the same grill that Choji would be using, knowing that there was no point prolonging it. Temari sat between him and Choji and Ino took his other side. Across from him was Kiba who was sitting in between Karui and Shino. There was an empty seat next to Sakura who promised that Sasuke might make an appearance later in the night. Shikamaru wasn’t going to hold his breath at that. He was playing with Temari’s hand under the table.
The waitress showed up and laughed when Choji told her to bring as much meat as the table would hold. Ino and Shikamaru quickly assured her that he wasn’t joking. Karui and Temari were the ones to order alcohol. What that the rest of the table started to join in when it got to Shikamaru he hesitated. He did the math in his head figuring out that his medication should have worn off, which explained why he was feeling tired. What harm could a beer do? With the drinks and the food ordered the waitress took off leaving the group alone. He could feel Ino shooting him looks out of the corner of her eye to see if he was doing alright. She might have been traumatized from when they were kids and he almost face-planted into a grill at their normal barbeque place, if it wasn’t for Asuma then he would have had an embarrassing face scar. Since then, he’s gotten better at resting his head on an arm, it gave him a little more stability and thus less likely to face plant into the table. He was talking with the group when the next time he blinked their drinks were there. Shikamaru let out a deep sigh before taking his glass of beer and bringing it to his lips, not taking a sip right away just wanting to cover his question to Ino.
“Did I fall asleep?” He took a long sip after he asked.
“You did that thing where you go on auto-piolet” She muttered back to him.
He nodded, accepting what happened. Whenever that happened Shikamaru had no memory of what he was doing when he woke up, when they were genin doing the D-list mission he’d zone out when weeding gardens and end up pulling flowers with the weeds. He did it eating a few times and after Choji and Ino got more comfortable with his condition they started trying to see what foods they could get him to eat before he woke up. A violation of his trust but also, he knew the worst thing they would make him eat was just boiled eggs, and his hatred for the food normally woke him up. That was also the way they kept him fed when he was depressed after his dad died.
The food arrived and everyone cheered in glee, grabbing their chopsticks and ready to fight for a place on the grill. Ino and Shino were at a disadvantage being the farthest away from either grill but Team Ten had a system. Shikamaru grabbed whatever Ino wanted and watched it like a hawk before snatching it away and putting it on her plate, it was the best system because of Choji’s reluctance of stealing from Shikamaru with how little they thought he ate. Temari was looking at him weirdly and he could feel Sai shooting a glare at him pulling Ino closer. Shikamaru sighed shrugging his shoulders. After the third time, Choji stole what Temari was cooking she understood.
“I warned you,” Shikamaru said laughing
“He’s not stealing your food” She argued back, he tried not to choke on his drink.
“Years of practice” Kiba was holding the pitcher of beer and offered to refill Shikamaru’s glass, he nodded not feeling the effect of the alcohol yet.
“You know I’m surprised he decided to come, Temari you must be one hell of a woman to get our resident grandpa outside of the house passed 8” Kiba joked as he poured the beer.
“Sleepy is difficult to get out of the house at night” Sai added, and he could feel Ino sending him a death glare.
“I’m up earlier than all of you, not my fault I value my alone time” He countered just trying to move the conversation along.
“It’s not going to be alone anymore,” Karui said with a howl causing Kiba, Sakura, and Naruto to laugh while he choked on his drink.
Temari rubbed his back trying to soothe him with her cheeks flushed red, he could tell if it was because of the liquor she was drinking, or the comment.
“Is that why I caught you napping today? Are you planning on not sleeping tonight?” Temari joked and Shikamaru felt his face turn red.
“Still taking naps when you’re supposed to be working?” Shino asked which set Shikamaru on the defensive. Shino was smart and quiet, so you never realize how much he knows unlike Sakura who says it loudly, and Shikamaru who is just expected to know it. They weren’t close friends during school, but they didn’t have to be to know that Shikamaru had some of the lowest grades because he couldn’t stay awake during class. It was common knowledge among the Rookie 9 that Shikamaru could fall asleep at the drop of a hat, it was only Team Ten that knew why. He didn’t think Shino was trying to be rude he was a lot like Sai in the sense that he said things bluntly which comes off as abrasive when you don’t know them.
“Still?” Temari asked Fuck this is exactly what I didn’t want Shikamaru cursed in his head.
“Leave it alone Tem” he tried to dissuade her from the conversation. Ino and Chojo were shooting each other looks of panic.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it, Shikamaru is an expert at what he does” Ino was basically shouting her tone wasn’t convincing at all.
“I think what Ino means to say is that Shikamaru’s business is his own and should stay that way” Choji spoke calmly and clearly letting everyone at the table know there is no room for arguments unless they wanted to go up against Choji themselves.
“What did I miss?” A familiar voice pulled everyone’s attention; Sasuke Uchiha had arrived.
Shikamaru held back an eye-roll seeing the excitement in both Sakura’s and Naruto’s eyes. The Uchiha took the empty seat that Sakura left next to Naruto. He felt bad for Hinata, Naruto loved her, but she would always play second fiddle to Sasuke. Shikamaru knew that Naruto and the other boy didn’t have the healthiest of relationships but leave it to Naruto’s undying loyalty that he still considers Sasuke to be his best friend. Team Seven put him up on a pedestal ignoring most of all his flaws while the rest of the Rookie Nine saw the boy in a less forgiving light. Sasuke has chosen to not acknowledge the rescue mission they attempted back when they were kids, which left most of them pissed seeing how they almost died trying to save him. None of them wish him any harm however no one at this end of the table liked him that much.
“We were talking about how Shikamaru isn’t going to be sleeping anymore now that Temari is here” Sai responded.
Today felt like one of those days that every comment about his sleeping habits felt like another brick on his back and he was going to drop it soon.
“Please he would probably fall asleep during sex, so no worry there” Sasuke responded and that was the last straw.
“Tem move, I need some fresh air” It was the only drawback of sitting against the back wall was that he was at the mercy of his girlfriend to allow him to leave, he could always get out another way but that would be rude.
Temari slid out letting him leave and he wasted no time walking out the front doors of the restaurant. It was a chilly night and that snapped him awake. Patting down his pockets he was fairly sure that he had a pack of cigarettes on him, he’s been trying to quit since he almost burnt his house down when he fell asleep with a lit cigarette in his mouth, but he’s been unsuccessful. This was supposed to be his last pack if everything went right. Cigarette in hand he pulled out Asuma’s lighter taking a deep inhale and an even deeper exhale. He didn’t know how long he stood there leaning against the building listening to people inside celebrating or the people walking by on the streets probably headed home. His cigarette was at the filter the next time he looked at it and he realized he must have zoned off again, repeating the familiar motion unknowingly.
He stubbed the end out against the building and flicked it into a nearby garbage can. Shikamaru debated going back into the restaurant, on one hand, he’d be the center of attention, and everyone would be staring at him, on the other hand, if he didn’t go back everyone will be talking about him behind his back. They probably already are.
“You still smoke?” Temari asked exiting the restaurant, leaning on the wall next to him.
“Last pack” He shook the pack showing the remaining cigarettes. “Both of my parents hate it, my dad used to smoke before I was born so you can imagine how pissed he was that I started the habit”
“The waitress came taking our desert order I wasn’t sure if you wanted anything my Ino and Choji said you wouldn’t”
“They’re right, too much sugar at night really screws up my sleep schedule” He explained, he wishes he was able to just come out and tell her about his condition, but he can’t. Temari was an amazing woman anyone would be lucky to have her and here he was scared that she’d leave him once she finds out he was not normal.
“Do you want to just leave?”
“We can go back in but don’t expect me to be social” Shikamaru pushed himself off the wall holding out a hand for Temari.
“Your hands are like ice” She complained but she didn’t let go.
They entered the back room and Shikamaru saw the relief on Choji’s and Ino’s faces when he came back in. He made sure to squeeze Choji’s shoulder as he slid into the bench to take his old seat, when he was next to Ino he put his hand on her knee and squeezed it, she elbowed him in the ribs for that, but he got his message across.
“Okay so are you guys ready for some fresh gossip?” Ino led the conversation leaving no room for anyone to ask Shikamaru what happened “Konohamaru has a crush” That statement erupted the table in question and talked over one another.
“How do you know?” Naruto’s voice cut through the group.
“He came to the Flower shop today and bought a bouquet and not the kind you’d leave at the memorial stone or a shrine, these flowers were specifically meant for something romantic”
“Didn’t he have a crush on you Sakura?” Hinata asked causing Sakura to blush and deny the claims.
“What about your little sister Hinata?” Kiba had that wolfish smile on his face.
“What no she’s way too young for him”
“You hear that Shikamaru? You’re too young for me” Temari joked
“Oh, so you’re admitting to being a cradle robber”
“You got me in the act”
“Should I be worried the flowers were for you? Are you going to leave me for someone younger when I get too old for you?”
“I didn’t want to tell you this now, but it’s probably for the best I warn you now seeing how you are a big crybaby”
“What am I going to do with you woman” They both started laughing, dessert was brought out for those that ordered it and the conversations broke off into individual groups once more.
Temari offered to share her dessert with Shikamaru, but he declined.
“Don’t take it too personally Temari Shikamaru has never been one for sugary foods” Choji told her so she wouldn’t think it was something that she’s done.
“Normally he does order something just so we can steal it from him” Ino added
“You both have your own partners steal from them” Shikamaru cut in
“Boo your no fun Shikamaru”
“Troublesome both of you”
Once the bill was paid up the group went their own ways. Ino and Choji both give him a fierce hug before taking off with their partner.
“And then there were two” Temari stated.
The two of them walked hand and hand back to Shikamaru’s house, this time not disturbed by the older family members. The house lights were dimly lit. The two of them silently kicked off their shoes trading them for slippers. Yoshino was definitely asleep and Shikamaru was extremely jealous of her. He noticed there was a teapot on the stove with two cups set out. His mother was the best, on nights that he had difficulty sleeping he’d often leave his bedroom to find a pot of tea waiting for him to help him fall back asleep. He didn’t always use it, but every single night his mother set it out.
Temari was walking around the living room more confidently now that she knew it was only the two of them awake. He watched her as he completed the familiar motion of making tea. She picked up a picture and studied it for a bit, he was very familiar with it.
“You were such a tiny baby”
“I was a month premature, that’s actually the 1st time that the current Ino-Shika-Cho met”
“Ino looks pretty young”
“Oh yeah she was only a few hours old at that point”
Shikamaru told her the story, about how he was born the day before Ino and their dads wanted the moment immortalized. The tea was made and poured into two cups, he walked over to the couch and offered Temari one which she took before curling into him.
“You don’t have to stay up with me, the way your friends talk, you don’t normally stay up this late” Temari offered, taking a sip of tea before making a face “What kind of tea is this?”
“Lavender, I normally have some when I can’t fall asleep right away”
“I thought I recognized that smell, your room reeks of it,” she said a little too loudly before lowering her voice to about a whisper
“Yeah I have this condition, it’s a kind of sleep disorder I’ve had all my life, but what it means to me is that I have a hard time sleeping through the night and a difficult time staying awake during the day,” He said it, he wasn’t the type of guy to give information freely but he couldn’t stop himself as more and more words fell out of his mouth. “I’m on medication for it but it’s not foolproof, that’s why I keep a strict schedule because if it fluctuates too much then I am too exhausted the next day to get anything done. That’s why I was napping today, I mean I normally take naps during the day but not that long. And I didn’t mean to hit you I just have these really vivid hallucinations sometimes when I wake up and I don’t know what’s real or not until my brain fully wakes up. I didn’t mean to attack you I honestly thought I would have been punching at nothing.” The entire time he spoke, she stayed quiet “Please say something”
“I don’t know what you want me to say, what do you want me to say?”
That knocked the wind out of him, she was the first person he told by himself, and it was going terribly. The Ino-Shika-Cho families were informed by Shikaku the moment they started hospital visits to try to figure it out, Asuma was told by the third Hokage he assumed, Tsunade was the doctor that actually helped him the most in the past years, and she informed Kakashi. They sat in silence neither one of them touching the tea in their hands.
“I feel like I should apologize, I’ve made today difficult for you”
“That’s not what I want. I didn’t tell you for an apology, I told you because you should know so that way you can leave me before you waste too much time” Shikamaru said the last part holding his breath, waiting for her to realize the same thing
“Gaara was an insomniac as a child, even now he still has trouble falling asleep at night out of habit. I’m not saying it’s the same thing, but I understand having a difficult relationship with sleep. I should apologize because I’ve been picking on you all day.”
“You don’t have to tiptoe around it, it’s not going to go away”
“I forget how sensitive you are my little crybaby” Temari apologized using her favourite nickname for him. She put a hand on his cheek pulling him into a kiss, his hand reached up into her hair.
“Woman” he muttered as she shushed him.
“I’m apologizing,” she said pressing kisses along his jaw. He felt the tension easing out of him and the familiar pull of sleep reaching him.
“Tem, I’m going to fall asleep” He admitted his eyelids getting heavy.
“Well, we better move this to a bedroom then”
“Sounds good” Shikamaru agreed, eyes closed forehead pressed into her neck “Wait what?” He forced himself awake to her standing them both up. She chuckled as he stumbled his body not ready for the sudden altitude change.
“Don’t worry just some cuddling” She assured as she led them to his bedroom. He remembered to hit the lights on the way out of the living room leaving them in darkness.
In his room, he walked over to the dresser pulling out his sleepwear for the night. Slowly stripping out of his clothes, Temari beat him pulling the shirt out of his hands and pulling it over her head. Shikamaru reflexively looked away giving her some privacy as he stepped into the pants. She ran her hands through his hair getting his attention as she pulled out his ponytail.
“You said you take medication do you need that now?” He melted into her touch almost missing her question
“Morning, it’s in the kitchen I think” Most mornings Shikamaru was still too hazy to remember to take it meaning his mother made sure that he did.
Temari pushed him down onto the pillow and climbed over him pulling him close to her chest. Her heart beat steady and soothing as she played with his hair. His breathing was smooth as his limbs go limp; he probably should have warned Temari about this part.
“I love you crybaby” She whispered into his neck and Shikamaru wished he could talk right now to respond. Temari probably wouldn’t appreciate knowing that he was still awake to hear that, so he’d just have to tease her about it in the morning. That was his last thought before he fell asleep for another restless night, this time each time he woke up he was being held tight by a sleeping Temari, and her heartbeat soothed him back to sleep.