One of the boys

chapter 21

A loud banging at the door woke him up from his nap, he was home alone, his father was at work, and his mother had gone food shopping, so no one else was there to open the door and let the npisy intruder in. He was slightly disoriented and realized he had fallen asleep on the couch, the reason why he could hear the noise from outside so clearly. He sighed and glared at the clock, it was only three pm who would bother him at that ungodly hour of the afternoon? It was the best time for his daily rest.

Finally realizing that the bang instead of slowing down became even louder and more insistent, sighing loudly finally Shikamaru dragged himself to the door, and when he opened he was welcomed by a blonde blur that stomped into his house at the yell of "I'm an idiot"

The young Nara simply battled his eyelashes, trying to get over the trauma of his rough awakening.

"I don't think I understood what you so delicately said, Naruko" he yawned, closing the door behind him and joined the girl in his living room.

The girl simply fell back on his couch slumping down in it, pouting.

She felt comfortable at the Nara's house, it was like her second home.

"I'm an idiot! The biggest idiot of Konoha, no, not Konoha, the whole freaking Five nations, no... that is not enou-" she started to ramble, and he had already understood that something was not right from the moment she had stepped inside.

"Ok, I got the message" Shikamaru stopped her, because he knew she would find the way of going on forever.

"Women are such a drag...so, what happened?" he asked as he sat on the carpet, his head leaning back on the sofa, to look at the sulking blonde.

"Well...you know...that Uhmmm how do I say this?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at her. She had always told him everything, and she knew he wouldn't judge her. But there was one topic they had never dealt with, because neither of them had had any experience to share, except Naruko's infamous crush for Kakashi.

"Let me guess, it has something to do with Itachi"

By the way her breath hitched and her cheeks flushed red immediately he knew he was right, not that he had any doubts, he wasn't called a genius for nothing.

"How...how did you know?"

The brown haired teen, sighed and shook his head at her genuine innocence.

"Come on 'Ruko, anyone that truly knows you could tell you are head over heels for the guy"

Well, she shouldn't really be surprised, everyone always told her she was like an open book, mostly because she couldn't keep secrets on her own, so really she should have expected this.

"Oh"

"Yeah... I saw you two at the party, it was pretty obvious for me that there was something going on"

"Oh..."

Shikamaru grinned, anyone that saw then together could see it, it's not like Itachi was trying to be subtle or anything. "Anyway, what did you do that set you on a panic?"

"Why does it have to be something I did!" she huffed, crossing her arms on her chest with a pout, her orange shirt almost looking pale compared to her flushed skin.