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Sakura sighed and gripped the edge of the counter. “This isn’t working, is it?”
Sasuke was quiet behind her, siting at her kitchen table. He said in a low voice, “No.”
She felt herself laugh but didn’t turn around. “You’ve known for a while, too, haven’t you?” She finally turned around and looked at him, her chest feeling heavy. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
Sasuke didn’t meet her eyes. “I wanted it to work.”
Sakura smiled despite the conversation and went to him, kneeling in front of him so he would look at her and grabbed his hands. “But it’s not.”
He chuckled and looked at her, an unspoken apology in his face. “What do you want to do then?”
***
Sakura heard him when she was picking out fruit from a market stand. It sounded like the conversation had already gone on before it reached her ears.
“Where’s Sakura at, by the way? Haven’t seen her around you lately.”
She looked up at the sound of her name to see Sasuke and one of his friends through the space between the stands on the other street. She recognized the guy, thinking his name was something like Ruji, a jounin that Sasuke had clicked with on one of his missions. He’d invited him out a couple times with them. She felt a little bad about not remembering his name since he knew hers.
“Oh, she broke up with me.”
Sakura snorted, already knowing it was what Sasuke had been telling people even though she tried to insist it was mutual. They were still friends but had been trying to give each other some space for the time being.
“What? No, come on. She loves you.”
“I’m sure she does. But not like that, at least not anymore.”
“But – “
Sakura felt someone lean into her personal space a second before there was a teasing voice near her ear. “You know, it’s rude to eavesdrop.”
Sakura rolled her eyes and leaned back to look at Shikamaru. “I just happened to be here. Not my fault they caught my attention by talking about me.”
Shikamaru chuckled and walked with her as she moved on to another stand, leaving the voices of Sasuke and his friend behind. “So, is it true, then? You broke up with Sasuke?”
Sakura shrugged as she looked over a stand. “It was a mutual decision.”
Shikamaru snorted. “Then, yes.”
Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, and he put his hands in his pocket. “A guy won’t just go around telling people his girlfriend broke up with him if it was mutual.”
“Too much masculine pride?” Sakura raised an eyebrow at him, a grin threatening on her lips.
“Pretty much.”
Sakura laughed softly, pulling out some coin to give to the street vendor as she bought some sweets. “Well, he wasn’t too put out about it. Seemed like he’d been waiting for me to say something.”
Shikamaru hummed and kept in step with her as she started to walk down the street home. “Am I being nosey asking what made you do it?”
Sakura shook her head, sparing him a smile. “I don’t really know. I just have had this feeling for a while that we were just going through the motions, not really… Then, I finally said something, and we ended it. There wasn’t any point in forcing something that wasn’t going to happen.”
He was quiet beside her, glancing up at those clouds of his as they turned a corner. “Well, as long as you’re looking out for yourself, Sakura. No reason being in a relationship that’s not making you happy.”
“Yeah, about what I was thinking.”
***
Sakura slowly started to notice that she was spending more time with Shikamaru and wondered what the shift had been. If she had pushed for it or if he had. She supposed at the end of the day, it didn’t matter. He was just suddenly there.
“Sakura, why don’t you take a break and come watch the clouds with me?”
“I’ll never understand how you can read these trashy romance novels.”
“Have you even eaten anything since you started your hospital shift?
Sakura found she really didn’t mind and started to miss him when they would go days without seeing each other. She’d gotten a knack for finding him when she wanted him; on a hill somewhere, in the Hokage Tower, the Nara Forest.
“Shikamaru, stop laying around and come have a spar with me.”
“You say as you pick up another book from my shelf.”
“You’re getting worse than Kakashi at coming to the hospital when you need to.”
Sakura started to like how he put his hand on her back when they walked.
***
Sakura stepped into the small office to see him asleep at his desk and felt herself smile. She hadn’t been there too many times; Shikamaru didn’t spend a lot of time in the office designated to him as Jounin Commander, preferring to stay in the Hokage’s office in case Naruto needed his help. But she’d thought she’d check here when he hadn’t been in there and now, she could see why.
Her feet carried her to him, stopping beside him and leaning against his desk. Her fingers went to him without thought, carding through his hair making his ponytail fall out. He stirred at her touch and turned his face in his arms to look up at her. He smiled tiredly at her and teased, “Didn’t take you for someone who cozied up to your supervisor.”
Sakura laughed and took her hand back. “Oh, shut up.”
He chuckled and sat up to lean back in his chair. Sakura had the thought that he looked so much softer with his hair down and then instantly shook the thought away. “Did you need me?”
Sakura crossed her arms over her chest and sat on the edge of his desk. She ignored the question and raised an eyebrow at him. “Have you been overworking yourself again?”
She watched as he comically fought back a yawn and denied it, “No.”
Sakura rolled her eyes at him. “You know, you don’t need to take so much work off Naruto’s plate. He can handle it, like I know he’s told you.”
Shikamaru shook his head. “I don’t take too much, just enough that he won’t be overwhelmed.”
Sakura sighed and let the argument fall; they’d had it enough. She glanced down at him as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “You know you’re pretty amazing being both the Jounin Commander and Hokage’s advisor, but you probably shouldn’t take a nap at your desk.”
Shikamaru laughed and looked up at her with a smile that made her heart skip a beat. “Oh, I don’t know about amazing, Sakura-chan.”
She shrugged and tore her eyes away from his face. “I think so.”
She felt his hand on her arm as he replied quietly, “I don’t think I deserve it, but thank you.”
She smiled and looked back to him. She’d get him to believe it someday. She asked him simply, “Take me to lunch?”
***
Sakura looked across the table at him unsurely without answering.
Sasuke caught her look and sighed, rolling his eyes then looked down at the menu in front of him. “You don’t have to answer. I was just curious.”
Sakura glanced out the window beside them as she thought. It was one of the few times she’d been alone with Sasuke since they broke up. She didn’t have any doubt their relationship would become something easy like her friendship with Naruto; they’d always worked better as friends anyway. It would just take a while.
She didn’t know if him asking her about her love life was helping that, though.
“I think so,” she said not sharing too many details, watching him closely.
His lips quirked up and he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You think so?”
Sakura felt something in her chest relax at his smile and gave him a more confident answer, “Yes.”
He nodded and the waitress came by to take their order. After she left, Sasuke told her, “You’re allowed to move on, Sakura. Don’t hold back on my account.”
Sakura hesitated before replying as she met Sasuke’s eyes. He was first boy she ever loved, the longest relationship she’d ever had. The little girl in her was still sad sometimes that they didn’t work out, but Sakura had been hearing her voice less lately. Even her childhood self was warming up to the idea of someone else.
Sasuke continued, “We’re both going to move on. It doesn’t matter to me if you do it first.”
Sakura chuckled with a nod and reminded him, “You know you’re still one of my best friends, right?”
“I know. The feeling’s mutual.”
Then, because the conversation had gotten too serious and touchy-feely for Sasuke’s taste he had to add with a teasing smirk, “You two look cute together.”
Sakura wadded up a napkin and threw it at him, a light blush dusting her cheeks. He laughed softly and Sakura felt like everything was going to be fine.
***
Sakura found him laying on a hill with his eyes closed and using his vest as a pillow. She felt herself smile as she went to lay beside him. Shikamaru peeked an eye at her and warmth filled her chest with how he smiled and closed his eyes again.
“Shouldn’t our esteemed Medical Director be at the hospital?”
“Shouldn’t our beloved Hokage Advisor be at the Hokage Tower?”
Shikamaru tsked and told her bitterly, “Naruto kicked me out for the day, said I needed to stop trying to do everything for him.”
Sakura chuckled and pillowed her head on her arm as she turned on her side towards him. “Shizune is covering me for a few days.”
Shikamaru opened his eyes and looked at her. “Do you have a mission?”
Sakura put a hand on his stomach, her heart going out of rhythm. “No.” She bit her lip and said, “But there is this new hot spring a couple towns over that I’ve been wanting to go to.”
He smiled at her, telling her softly, “Good. You deserve a little vacation.”
Sakura swallowed down some nerves and asked quietly, her eyes on a loose thread on his sleeve, “Would you want to come with me? You know, since Naruto’s already kicked you out of the office once, I’m sure he won’t mind if you took a couple days off.”
She felt a hand on hers and then, Shikamaru was grabbing her hand and hauling her on top of him. She laid her head on his chest as his arm wrapped around her. “I’ll ask him, if you lay with me for a while.”
Sakura laughed softly, settling comfortable against him with her hand in his. “Deal.”
***
Shikamaru didn’t comment when she only booked one room. But she could feel him tense beside her as she took the set of keys. He was quiet as they walked to their room and Sakura felt her stomach tangling with nerves.
She’d only set her bag down for a second and then Shikamaru had his hands on her pressing her against the wall. Sakura looked up at him with a blush, her heart going erratic in her chest. One of his hands came up to hold her face while the other gripped her hip.
He met her eyes, his voice low as he asked her, “Sakura, are you sure you want to do this with me?”
Sakura smiled, her fingers wrapping around his shirt to drag him closer. Whatever this was, her answer was the same. “Yes.”
He smiled and then kissed her until she was breathless.