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They say that after you turn eighteen, a red string will appear, tied to your smallest finger, and will lead you to your soulmate.
It’s a story told over campfires and sleepovers, when they’re young and foolish and have no real proof if these magical, mythical threads even exist, because they can only be seen by the two people attached to either end.
Some kids love the idea of it. Some grow to resent it.
Shikamaru doesn’t care for the legend. In fact, he hopes he’s one of those ‘unlucky’ ones, who doesn’t get to see their string until they’re old and tired and it’s too late to do anything about it. He’s already tired of everything.
Everyone tells him he’ll change his mind, from his teammates to his friends to his sensei to his parents, but he disagrees.
He doesn’t listen to the others when they complain how their eighteenth birthday is years away, he doesn’t ask the adults around them what it feels like to be both poetically and physically bound to another, and he most certainly doesn’t want to wake up one day and be attached to even more responsibilities.
Then the war starts, and everything involving it happens, and he starts counting the days until he turns eighteen.
No one notices his sudden shift in attitude, though, and it’s not like he’s about to broadcast it to the entire village. He always locks the thought away when Ino connects their minds - if his friends ever found out that he actually cared about something, let alone someone, he’d never survive.
In fact, the only time he ever talks about the string out loud is a week before the first post-war Chuunin Exams, over lunch with his co-examiner.
“Hm? You want to know if I’ve seen my thread? That’s not very gentlemanly of you to ask.”
Shikamaru blushes and wonders if she’ll notice. “Uh - well, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” He mutters.
Temari stares at him, her eyes alight in mischief. “First, tell me why you’re suddenly so curious. I’ve been past that age for a while now, and you’ve never asked before.”
His eyes dart from the ceiling to their food to the restaurant’s open door “I just... wasn’t interested before.”
“Oh?” Her smirk widens considerably. “And you’re interested now because...?”
Shikamaru balks, mentally scrambling.
Half a day together and he’s already set himself up like a pawn.
He clears his throat once, twice, thrice.
“I just want to know how much of a drag it’s going to be. If it was up to me, I would never get one,” The lie flows so easily off his tongue he almost believes it himself. “But I’ve resigned myself to a troublesome life.” He shrugs then busies himself with mixing his rice and avoiding Temari’s gaze, hoping she falls for his reasoning.
“Well, guess I can’t help you with that.”
Shikamaru jerks his head up to look at her. “...What?”
“I said, I can’t help you.” Temari scowls. “I haven’t gotten mine yet. And it’s already been two years, so who knows when I’ll be able to see it.”
She pokes at her food. “If I ever do.”
Shikamaru stares at her while she glares at her plate, a crease growing between her brows. He feels bad, suddenly, for bringing up the topic in the first place. There had been no way of knowing her reaction beforehand, but still. He figures anyone would feel similarly sensitive on the subject of soulmates after eighteen.
“Well, I think you should count yourself lucky.” He’s not sure what he’s saying but continues anyway - if only to make her feel better. “Strings are a drag. I mean, can you imagine having to deal with someone attached to you at all times? They’ll never understand the nuances of my life, like cloud-watching. I’ve got more than enough problems dealing with just you and my mother.”
With a shake of her head, Temari snorts and uses her chopsticks to flick some cold tea at him. “Just for that, I hope you do get a soulmate, asshole. An extra troublesome one.”
Shikamaru flicks some water right back at her, starting a mini battle that only reinforces one thought in his head.
He hopes Temari’s right, too.
On his eighteenth birthday, he doesn’t wake up with anything tied around his finger.
The next day, Ino squeals in his and Choji’s faces, her arms waving so hard that it’s surprising she’s not dragging around a pale finger. Impatiently, Ino waits for some sort of compliment, so Choji congratulates her, though he’s just as confused by the pairing.
Outwardly, Shikamaru returns her hug and tells her this news could’ve waited until past noon, and now she can finally focus on something other than her love life for once. It’s enough to distract her from asking him any troublesome questions.
Privately, he’s jealous. The lack of a countdown makes waiting harder.
The restorations from the war are over, but there is still lots of work to be done in maintaining peaceful relations with the other villages. The Shinobi Union is created, and Shikamaru has less and less time to stress over his bare fingers. He checks every day, but as a reflex more than a need.
He spends the few breaks he gets at Kurenai’s house, playing with Mirai. She’s too young to know about strings and soulmates, which Shikamaru appreciates.
Her mother, however, is not.
“So, Shikamaru. Hinata told me there’s updates on the love lives of your classmates; nothing on the soulmate front for you?”
While he’s careful never to bring up the topic himself, Kurenai obviously has no such reservations when it comes to teasing her partner’s favorite former student.
He should have expected this, he thinks with a sigh. With everyone in their year turning of age this year, the nosy and somewhat - scratch that, very - intrusive questions are bound to start. Ino and Kiba were some of the lucky few who got to find their way to their soulmate as soon as they turned eighteen, and with both teams close to Kurenai, she must have already heard their stories in depth.
Shikamaru only shrugs in response, his focus on his young goddaughter. Mirai is picking up small sticks and pebbles and carefully balancing them on his knees in a structure only she can see. The least he can do is keep the foundation solid for her.
“No,” he finally answers the former sensei.
Kurenai comes to sit on the porch next to him. “I got to see mine on my eighteenth birthday. Same day as Asuma, and wasn’t that a good surprise for Raido.” She says dryly.
Shikamaru laughs at that. He’s heard a version of this story too; a soulmate reveal during a mission can’t have been convenient.
“Nothing in shinobi life is expected, not even the amount of time you have with your soulmate.” Kurenai sighs shakily. “You spend your childhood waiting for the moment it appears, losing it never even crosses your mind.”
The mood sombers as tears spark to her eyes before she can hide them.
Shikamaru looks away, bringing his attention back to Mirai just as she decides to knock down the towers and throw herself in his lap.
Maybe he’s okay not knowing for a little longer.
Then it happens, on a day just like any other, when he’s nineteen - and a few months - old.
While his eyes are still adjusting to the early sunlight leaking in through his blinds, he feels a tug on the pinky of his right hand.
He blinks rapidly, hoping he’s not just imagining the sensation.
But it’s there. Bright red and thinner than he had thought, tied right around the base of his finger - it’s what he’s been waiting for.
He throws off his covers and jumps out of bed faster than he ever has in his life. While his body is getting him ready on autopilot, Shikamaru’s mind is working at full throttle.
As soon as his door locks with a click, he bypasses the streets for the rooftops instead. The less interruptions, the better.
The village's gates have just been opened. If he leaves now, at the speed he’s ready to go, he’ll have reached the border by the time the Hokage gets to work and he can send a message from there explaining his absence - Kakashi will understand.
Shikamaru rounds the corner to the main gate. With luck, he can cut the trip down by a day. He hopes she’s in town and not out on a mission, it’ll be troublesome dealing with her brothers alon-
No. No no nonono no.
The thread leads back into the village.
All the life leaves his body. With all his overwrought planning and thinking and re-planning, he had never anticipated being part of the ill-fated group. The ones whose thread didn’t lead to who they wanted.
He stares at the thread until he decides he hates the color red, and then at the sky. He wants nothing more than to be a cloud right now, to not have to worry about spending a life with someone who’s not her.
The village slowly starts to wake up. Although he knows no one else can see it, Shikamaru shoves his hands in his pockets before he’s asked any troublesome questions. The last thing he wants is to talk about his supposed soulmate.
Just as he’s figuring out a way to distract himself from his inner torment, there’s another tug on his finger. Whoever it is, they must be awake now.
Shikamaru grunts to himself. A morning person, how troublesome.
Even the clouds can’t help him right now, so he just keeps on trudging through the village. He doesn’t really want to see who is at the other end of that string. While he can’t really stop them from searching, he can certainly not put in any effort. There hasn’t been any more movement, so he knows they’re still in the village. It’ll take them a while to find him, though, with the speed at which he is dragging himself through the marketplace.
Soon, the crowd thins, and he’s still walking with no end in sight. He halfheartedly hopes it’s not someone north of the village, he hadn’t factored in the possibility of moving somewhere up there.
Shikamaru comes to a stop in the middle of an empty road near the edge of the village, just past the shinobi offices. He doesn’t feel like moving anymore.
He stares up at the sky again, then closes his eyes and lets out a deep sigh. He vows to himself to never get up early again - nothing but disappointment.
The string suddenly stretches taut, tight around his finger.
“Why the long face, crybaby?”
His head snaps forward, eyes shooting open.
Standing fifteen meters away is the only person he’s been thinking about all morning, ever since he woke up. Not just today, he realizes, but every day, for so long now.
Blonde hair, green eyes, a smile that could lead to her laughing or killing him, he’ll never be sure. Either way, he can never get enough of her.
He takes a step forward the same time she does.
“I didn’t know you were in the village.”
“Stopped here on my way back from a mission.” Temari explains casually. “It was really late and I didn’t want to bother - I know how much you treasure your sleep.”
She’s teasing him, he knows, but he can’t bring himself to be annoyed about it right then. His heart’s beating too fast, and he still can’t force himself to look down at his hand.
“I would have gotten up, you know.” He says quietly and quickly. “For you, I would have.”
Temari cocks her head, still teasing. “Well, haven’t you grown up.”
It’s her voice, equal parts snarky and fond, that does it. Shikamaru takes a deep breath, and looks at his hand. The red thread is straight and stiff and begging him to keep moving forward, like it has been all day.
He inhales sharply, but Temari doesn’t seem to notice. “What are you doing out here so early, anyway? It usually takes nothing short of a village crisis to get you out of bed before noon on a weekend.”
He’s still staring at his hand as he quietly answers. “I was at the gate.”
“Oh? But you didn’t even know I was coming?”
“I was at the gate.” He repeats, louder this time. “I wanted... I wanted to go to Suna.”
She’s quiet for a while. Neither of them move a muscle, though Shikamaru is thinking about it when Temari asks softly. “Why?”
Why? Doesn’t she know that he’d cross deserts and oceans for her?
Suddenly, even this distance is too far away.
He doesn’t remember meeting her in the middle but he does, the tension on his finger finally easing as he comes face-to-face with Temari, her eyes wide and hands fisted at her sides. “I should have known.” She says breathlessly, looking him up and down.
“You’re not mad?” He blurts out, because he’s not, he’s never been so happy that she was right-
Temari shakes her head, eyes wet. “Stupid… you had to be younger than me. You made me wait so long.”
Shikamaru grins. “Only fair that we both get someone so troublesome.”
Then Temari laughs, carefree and bright, and his hands seem to fit perfectly on her waist just as hers come up to palm the back of his neck and he really, really, cannot stop smiling.
“Well? How much longer are you gonna keep me waiting?” She asks, wiping at his cheek - which isn’t fair because he’s pretty sure she’s crying too, but there’ll be time to go over the details later.
Right now, he closes the rest of the distance between them in a heartbeat.