The Demon They Once Feared. {BOOK 2}

|26|Troublesome

When Shikamaru witnessed Mina becoming rogue, he wasn't shocked. And as mean as that sounds, it was true. Given the condition she was in when she came back, it wouldn't just disappear the way it did. There were so many things that she tried to hide, but he knew.

He knew that she killed a comrade, he knew that she was kidnapped and tortured, experimented on. He knew what she went through as a child, being an orphan from birth, the whole village hating them for something they couldn't help. He knew that it would have catastrophic damage to her mental health.

He knew. He knew, he knew. He knew he knew.

He knew.

So why didn't he help?

Troublesome woman.

It was early afternoon and Shikamaru hadn't moved from his position on the floor. His hands were intertwined under his chin as his brown eyes refused to move from the Shogi board in front of him. There was no one sitting opposite him, no one to challenge his knowledge and no one to play the game.  A humourous laugh left him from the depths of his chest. A bitter sound that sounded foreign to him, and he thought, that if Mina were washing him now, she would comment on how pathetic he looked. Alone, quiet and no one to play with. With no one, he could beat. 

"Too troublesome to go find someone~" She would tease, and he imagined her standing just inside the house, hands on her hips and her long red hair swishing behind her, even if the wasn't any wind. It was always flowing, delicately, softly behind her, like smooth silk bedsheet fluttering in the wind as it dried in the warm sunlight. She was the sunlight. He inwardly cringed at how bad the description of her was. And it was always like that, he would never be able to find the right words for her, to describe just how beautiful her red hair was.

And he would almost disregard her, not moving from his position and sighing. She'd laugh, thinking that she had already annoyed him, and she only said one sentence. No doubt she would be proud of herself. But it was wrong. It was all wrong. Shikamaru didn't know when it had started, but her presence, her persistent presence had started to become enjoyable, but god forbid he shows her his.

She would ignore him ignoring her and sit down at the opposite side, and move a piece on the game board. He knew that she really didn't know what she was doing, and it fascinated him as to how she almost always was able to make him think. The first time he beat her she was shocked, not expecting her to actually get him, but that was just luck. She had never won any other game they played together after that, he had learned not to underestimate anyone. Mina was interesting. He knew that she use instinct more than actual thought, and it was a good challenge for him. He was able to come up with new strategies and win the game, but it would be a challenge nonetheless. 

She was a challenge.

And he couldn't quite figure her out. Try as he might, it came close, but she always managed to throw him off. 

Troublesome woman.

"You haven't moved a piece for a while." 

Shikamaru sighed, being brought out of his thoughts, he glanced at his father leaning by the door. Pushing the unexplained disappointed feeling away, he didn't respond and looked back at the shogi board.

"Something on your mind?" His father questioned, taking a seat and moving a piece.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru muttered but it was loud enough for his father to hear.

"Ah, women."

"They're troublesome."

"Tell me about it, your mother can sometimes-"