Deafening - Shikamaru Nara

14

At about 11:00, I knock on Tenten's door.

"Rei!" She squeals, engulfing me in a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried, I thought you were gone! Luckily Sakura and Lady Tsunade were there, I don't know what would've happened."

I laugh. "It's good to see you, Tenten. I feel fine now, really."

"Oh good! I was so mad when Lady Tsunade made me leave for a mission," she hums, her voice laced with irritation. "She didn't really give me a choice though."

"Thanks for worrying about me. How was your mission?"

She sighs. "Oh, good. It wasn't all that interesting. Nothing like yours." I grimace at the mention of my failed mission.

"Anyways," she says slowly, changing the topic. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard you were back and I wanted to ask if you'd like to go to lunch?" I told myself no more eating out, but oh well.

"Of course!" She responds. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

I'm glad Tenten is back, I've missed her. I couldn't wait to talk to her, although I hope she doesn't ask for the details from my last mission, I don't feel like being upset at myself.

Okay, then don't get upset.

That would make sense, but sometimes my brain doesn't like the concept of sense. It's just so complicated. Everyone keeps telling me that it's okay—I wasn't expected to kill my brother. But part of me wonders why I wasn't expected. It's my job to complete missions, yet I was expected to be too soft to do so?

I continue to think like this as I wait, my mind spiraling downwards like a staircase to hell. But then the door opens and I push my thoughts to the back of my mind and greet Tenten with a smile.

We walk to the restaurant she chose and sit down in a booth.

"What have you been up to?" I ask her.

She shrugs. "Not much. I got back early yesterday morning. I pretty much slept all day because I was so tired from the mission."

"You, Neji, Lee, and Guy?"

She nods. "Yeah. It wasn't too bad, just a C rank. It was a shit ton of traveling though. All the way to the Land of Lightning!"

"That sounds exhausting. I take it Lee is back to normal then?"

She laughs. "You must've been out for a while. He's totally fine! Probably better than he was before the Chunin exams."

"Huh. I forgot he was injured during the preliminaries. I can't believe the exams were months ago."

"Almost a year. You lose the concept of time while you were in your coma or something?"

I laugh. "I guess so." We pause our conversation and place our order.

She smiles. "I'm so glad you've recovered. You did not look good when Kakashi brought you in. Pale and limp."

"So I've heard," I mumble.

"Oh, right. Well, how are you and Shikamaru?"

I blush. "How do you know I'm talking to him?"

She rolls her eyes. "Because he waited for you like, every day while you were in comatose, duh."

I roll my eyes. "Does everybody know about that?"

She laughs. "For the most part. Don't worry, we're all rooting for the two of you." I grumble in embarrassment, but then I say, "I'm seeing him tonight."