royal // shikamaru nara

10

/ Himari's POV /

"Because I was scared" Shikamaru says with great despair in his eyes which causes me to soften my posture and unfold my crossed arms.

"What are you scared of, Shikamaru?" I softly ask as I take a few steps towards him. "You, I'm scared of you" He replies as he breaks eye contact and tries to walk away but I grabbed his hand before he actually could. I look at him with pleading eyes, begging him to continue what he was trying to say and he lets out a sad sigh.

"I felt it. I felt myself liking you and it scared me." He says as he harshly pulls his hand away from him and takes a few steps back with a hard look on his face. "Why did that scare you?" I ask with venom in my voice due to his sudden change in attitude.

"Because you are practically everything I want in everything I hated." He says as he slightly raises his voice and i give him a confused look at what he said. "You're high maintenance, sometimes spoiled and not to mention complicated as hell nor are you a low-key person. In short, you're a drag to be with. You posses every quality I hate yet I can't get myself to hate you and that scares me." He says with great emotion as he points to himself at the end of his little speech.

I slowly walk closer to him and place my hand on his chest. I stare at him in awe for a few moments before tiptoeing to his height to give him a peck on the check before resting my head on his chest and he places an arm around me.

He lets out a sigh as we stay this way for a few seconds. "Can we start over?" He suddenly says as his grip on me tightened as if he was scared I sould say no. "I'd like that" I quietly whisper but loud enough for him to hear. I soon felt him relax into the hug before eventually pulling away

"So, what's the plan?" He suddenly asks. "Are you coming back with me or not?" He says with pleading eyes. "Can't I just stay here for even just a day longer or two?" I sigh at him. I was really liking it here in Suna. I got to see Gaara everyday and reminisce about the place we both grew up in.

"Fine. I'll give you two more days." He huffed as I smile at him and let out a small giggle of happiness.

//

I spent my two days hanging out with Gaara as much as I could since I knew that once I leave, I wouldn't see him that often anymore since he'd be busy. He is the Kazekage after all.

I sadly look at Gaara once more time before engulfing him a bear hug which he gladly returned. "I'll try to visit you as much as I can" He sadly huffs as I pull away and give him a sad pout which he returned.

"I have to go now" I sadly say as I look at Shikamaru who just nodded at me. We both make our way to the gates of Suna with a few sand shinobi's with us. Gaara want to make sure we got there safely, much to Shikamaru's dismay since he felt as if he could protect us both on his own.

Shikamaru and I enjoy small talk and a bit of catching up as we walk in the direction of Konoha until we both notices how dark it was starting to get. "Maybe we should start camp." Taki, One of the sand shinobi, said as we both nod in agreement.

We walk until we find a proper spot to set up camp in and I walk away to gather wood for our fire. "Hey! don't go off on your own." Shikamaru shouts as he runs towards me. "I'll be fine, Shikamaru" I reassure him but he insist of walking with me anyways and I let him because if I were to be honest, the thought of walking alone in the woods at night scared me.

I crouch down to pick up some wood and Shikamaru joins me as I couldn't carry too much of it on my own. I mutter him a small thanks as we walk back to camp to see that everything was all set up, the only thing left missing was the fire. We both place down the piles of wood and I stare at Shikamaru in confusion since I didn't know how to start a fire. He lets out a little laugh and pulls out a lighter and throws it into the fire.

We all gather around the fire and enjoy some food we packed for our journey. We all told each other ghost stories and laughed along. It was enlightening for me to hear these peoples stories and learn about the different walks of life. Once it began to get late, Shikamaru decided that he would take the first shift and everyone else headed into their own designated tents.

I sat next to him and slumped my back on the tree behind us. "Go to bed" Shikamaru suddenly says as he relaxes on the tree while his head leaned into his hands. "You'll need your energy for tomorrow, It'll be a long journey tomorrow" He says as he noticed that I wouldn't move. He lets out a sigh a few minutes later when he realizes that I'm not going anywhere.

"You're too troublesome for your own good, you know that?" He says as he peaks open one eye and look at me and I give him a small laugh. "Hey Shikamaru, uhh... can I ask you something?" I shyly ask and he sits up as a sign that I have his full attention. "What is it?" He asks as he raises an eyebrow at me. "When we get back to Konoha, I want you to teach me how to fight." I suddenly say with conviction and he hold in his straight face.

"Why do you want to learn that? No offense, but you just seem so.. oh I don't know... stuck up?" He says, unsure of his own words and I frown at him. "No, it's just that.." He trails off and sighs as he thinks of the least offensive way to phrase it out for me. "Everything was always laid out for you ever since you were born and you were raised to be this proper and refined person. I just didn't think that learning to fight was in the cards for you." He lets out and now, it was my turn to let out a sigh.

"That's the thing, I was raised to be this weak little girl who was only ever taught how to do as my parents say and I'm tired." I says looking down as I fiddle with the grass.

"If you go to bed right now, we can start training as soon as we get back." He says with a smug smirk on his face as I let out a little laugh and get up from the floor. "Good night" I say in a sing song voice and he smiles and mutters me a good night from under his breath as I walk away to my tent.

I got in my sleeping bag with a smile on my face, wanting to get back to Konoha as soon as possible.

//

a/n : vote and comment for the next chapter !! i'll try to be more consistent with this story since it is quarantine. please stay safe guys :)