A Troublesome Woman by EnsignIago
Summary: All Shikamaru ever wanted was a nice, quiet life. He couldn't understand why it had to be filled with so many troublesome women. His mother, Ino, Temari.

Oh, and her.

Tsubaki Chika, transfer kunoichi from the Village Hidden in the Ruins. Sometimes he just wished she would go back. Bossy, demanding, stuck-up. There's no way she would ever be able to have a conversation with him without saying something rude. Probably wouldn't give him the time of day once the uniform was off.


Categories: OC-centric, Het Romance > Fluff Characters: All, OC, Shikamaru Nara
Genres: General, Romance
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 3 Completed: No Word count: 1960 Read: 3208 Published: 20/12/11 Updated: 25/12/11
Story Notes:
This is probably going to be my 'head-canon' for how Shikamaru and my OC, Tsubaki Chika, start to develop feelings for each other. The story takes place a few years after the war.

They met about a few months ago, but that was more mission/work related, and I don't want to do too in-depth with mission and the like. This story focuses more on what happens back in the village, kind of like their personal lives as opposed to their lives as shinobi.

Also there seems to be a theme of doing 'Bingo Books' whenever you have a long-running story on TONFA, so I might have a go at that later on. It depends how far I get into this.

1. Chapter One by EnsignIago

2. Chapter Two by EnsignIago

3. Chapter Three by EnsignIago

Chapter One by EnsignIago
Author's Notes:
This one is quite short, and no OC-ness just yet. Also, I'd like to point out that because Shikamaru is slightly older, his phrase has changed from 'Troublesome' or 'What a drag' to 'What a pain in the ass'. It just works better for me. I like it when he says stuff like that in the anime or manga, but for some reason it irks me a little in fanfiction.

Anywho, hope you enjoy this one and give us some feedback on what you think, ne?
"Shikamaru."

“Uh?” Konoha’s lazy genius grunted and looked up from his shōgi board at the carbon copy of himself in approximately twenty years’ time, give or take the scars and the facial hair.

“What is it, dad?”

“Why are up here, playing shōgi by yourself in your room?” Shikaku Nara asked as he stood with arms folded in the doorway, dressed in the casual clothes he wore at home; dark blue shirt and dark blue slacks.

“I would’ve played with you, but you were out tending the deer.” His son replied, another wooden game piece hitting the board with a snap! In all honesty, his heart wasn’t in it; playing against yourself only stayed interesting for a certain length of time. Probably why he was more interested in the way his father was padding about his room, the same dark, narrow eyes he passed down to his son flitting about the room, searching.

“Well then, why don’t you go outside? It’s a nice day.” Indeed, Shikaku was on the look-out, for any trace of evidence that would suggest his son had the possibility of a love life. Recently, he had noticed the tyrannical love of his life, Yoshino Nara, had been asking a lot of questions about their eighteen year old son. A large percentage of these questions had Shikaku wondering if women not only got broody for children, but also broody for grandchildren later on in life.

“What are you looking for, dad?”

“Nothing.” The older man replied a bit too quickly, immediately turning on his heel and exiting the room. Shikamaru let out an irritated sigh; he partly suspected what his father was doing and didn’t like the fact his privacy (although he had very little to be private about, considering the stereotypes of his gender at his age) being so blatantly intruded upon.

“I’m sure your mother wouldn’t mind a helping hand with some errands.” Shikaku’s voice floated from the corridor, sending a fresh wave of infuriation through his son. There was no doubt his mother heard that, as she seemingly possessed the ears of a freakin’ bat.

“Shikamaru!” The shrill call of Yoshino pierced the sweet silence the Nara boy had been granted for only a few moments, causing yet another irritated sigh to escape him.

“What?” He called back, cursing his father’s inability to leave him in peace.

“Don’t say ‘What’, say ‘Pardon’!"

"Fine, whatever. What do you want?"

"Don't start being mouthy with me, young man! Pull your weight for once, run into town and buy the groceries!”

Shikamaru groaned, letting his slumped, sitting figure slump even further, until his head slammed against the shōgi board.

“Arrghhh… What a pain in the ass.”
Chapter Two by EnsignIago
Author's Notes:
Still no OC-ness, right now I'm just setting the mood, I suppose.

I really prefer to have something short and well written then pack it all together and bore you guys with details.

Also, it all depends on the flow and where I think it can end nicely , so in the next chapter I can jump along a little bit. So, for now, short chapters. Baby steps.
“Here’s the list.”

“Hm.” Shikamaru grunted as he took the folded piece of paper from his mother and shoved it into the pocket of his trousers. He was wearing dark blue slacks and a short-sleeve mesh shirt underneath a dark blue jacket with three-quarter length sleeves, his usual casual get-up when he wasn’t working or on call.

“Later…” He mumbled whilst he stepped into the entrance hall, pulling on a pair of sandals.

“Wait just a second!” His mother called, storming after her son whilst he groaned.

“What now, mum—Ow!” He cried out as she slapped him across the side of his head with a heavy envelope.

“What was that for!?”

“For trying to sneak off when I’m not done talking to you! How on earth do you expect to pay for the groceries if I don’t give you the housekeeping money!?”

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry, geez…” Shikamaru replied as he held his throbbing ear, going red from his mother’s abuse. As he reached out to take the envelope, Yoshino held it away from him, before using it to point directly between his eyes, waggling it excessively while she lectured him.

“Now listen here, young man. Just because there may be change left over, and there will be change left over, does not mean you can go and spend it, alright? You will bring it back and you will give it to me so it can be put towards other things! Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.” Shikamaru growled as he near-snatched the envelope from her, shoved it in his pocket and began to walk out the house.

“I’m going.”

“And don’t dawdle! I know how you are. You better make it back before dinner—“

“Alright!” His screeching mother was cut off as he half-slammed the front door shut, sliding it with as much effort as he could muster. Which was a little more than usual, due to the barrage of provocation he had received from his mother since the moment he had failed to get up at a ‘decent’ time.

“Damn woman…” The Nara boy grumbled as he let out a sigh, slouching with his hands in his pockets as he walked. People greeted him as he made his way out of the Nara compound and even into town, but he just nodded back in acknowledgement. He wasn’t in the mood for being sociable.

“Nag, nag, nag… All the damn time.” As he grumbled he fished the shopping list out from his pocket and unfolded while he walked. The list was written with black in his mother’s slightly cursive but legible and block-like writing, the same hand-writing she had perfect in the academy and had used ever since. It was practical, slightly hurried and no-nonsense, just like her. Two columns ran the length of the paper, fitting approximately fifteen items per column.

“What a pain in the ass…” Shikamaru mumbled before lowering the list away from his gaze, lifting his free hand to cover his mouth while he yawned. Already in his head he was thinking what he should buy first, what would need to be home the quickest so his mother didn’t scold him about something breaking in transit or going off in the heat. It was while he was developing a strategy when a sudden thought occurred to him and he stopped dead in the middle of the street.

Wait a second…

He looked down at the list, counted off the number of items his mother wanted altogether. He looked up down the alleyway, peering at the stalls of the grocery side of the shopping district. A combination of a groan and whine came from him and he looked towards the sky, smudged with a few white clouds. Shikmaru immediately became envious of their untroubled existence, imaging the momentous task he had before him.

How exactly did his mother imagine he was going to carry all that shopping back by himself?
Chapter Three by EnsignIago
Author's Notes:
Well, there is a little bit of OC-ness at the end of this one, so look forward to that.

I notice now that my chapters are steadily getting longer, so hopefully I'll set a traget around 1000 words for each chapter from now on and stick to that as best I can.

“How the hell does she carry all this?” Shikamaru Nara mumbled to himself as he stopped in the street, having to readjust the four paper bags, filled to the brim with groceries, for what seemed to be the hundredth time. He was just and so managing to hold them in his arms, but progress home was slow. He had decided that there was no way in hell that he was making several trips back and forth, even if it meant looking like a complete idiot and having everyone pass by him either staring, laughing or whispering behind their hands in a way which they thought was inconspicuous.

“Hey, Shikamaru!”

Others decided that it was much more fun to jeer at him across the street.

“After you’re done with the shopping, get back in the kitchen and make me a sandwich!”

“Shut up, Kiba…” The Nara grumbled under his breath, doing his best to glare back at the brown haired Inuzuka without dropping anything. He didn’t have to look far, as the beast tamer rode on the back of his white nin-ken, Akamaru, to catch up to his childhood classmate and give him a playful nudge in the side with his elbow.

“Woah! Watch it, Kiba!” Shikamaru snapped as he nearly overbalanced and sent various food types everywhere, correcting his posture just in time.

“Do you have any idea what my mum would do to me if I dropped anything?!”

“Geez, take a chill pill, man. I was only playing.” Kiba flashed his pearly elongated canines at his ponytailed comrade.

“But seriously, man. Do you have any idea what you look like? It’s hilarious!” As the brunette burst out into unrestrained laughter, Shikamaru frowned. He felt a headache coming on.

“Yeah. Very funny.” The dead-pan tone wasn’t lost on Kiba, which Shikamaru found a little surprising. Sometimes the brunette could be just like Naruto Uzumaki, Konoha’s number one knuckle-headed ninja, in letting things like sarcasm fly completely over his head.

“Aw, c’mon, Shikamaru, you gotta admit it’s kinda funny. I mean, you’re always complaining about women and yet you’re still living with your mum and buying her groceries. You’re totally whipped!”

“Piss off, Kiba!” The dark-haired ninja spat, momentarily overcome with uncharacteristic anger. He hated being reminded of his current housing predicament. He would have moved out into his own place like most of his friends, but unfortunately his longest and closest friend, Chouji Akimichi, was from a noble clan and already had his own place, all paid for and everything, on his clan’s compound. Seeing as the Nara clan weren’t that rich and therefore weren’t willing to house him until he got married and settled down with a family, his options were either pay rent all on his own and starve or chose to live with guys who either a) got up at ridiculous times in the morning to run ten laps round the village (and probably drag him out of bed in the process), b) had pets that took up the entire apartment, leaving hair and smell everywhere, or c) spent most of their time either painting or reading books about making friends and apparently enjoyed staring at other guys’ junk.

“Hey, hey, chill out, man. It’s not my fault you’re too lazy to fly from the nest.”

“Don’t you have someone’s rear to go and smell?”

Kiba glared harshly at Shikamaru, before giving Akamaru beneath him a nudge to turn off at the next corner. The dog complied and the pair cantered off down the alleyway, leaving the Nara to simmer by himself. He really didn’t know how his day could get any worse when it had hardly begun, when there was the sound of ripping paper and various vegetables spilled out onto the ground at his feet.

“Pain in the ass!” Shikamaru shouted loudly, causing a few villagers passing to be startled, then give him the evil eye. He didn’t care, at least not until a mother pulled her child out of his way so he could put the rest of his bags down, speaking in a sharp tone about a ‘lack of respect’ and ‘inconsideration for other people’. Whilst Shikamaru let the sting of her criticism fade, down on the balls of his feet with the shopping bags secured, he let out a long sigh and ran his hand over the back of his neck.

“C’mon… There is no way this day could get any worse.”

“What are you doing?”

Shikamaru froze, eyes suddenly wide as he was convinced his heart skipped a beat. He knew that voice, and as he prepared to turn around and face who it belonged to he could feel himself break out in a cold sweat. Slowly, he rotated his head and made direct eye contact with the last person he ever wanted to see on earth.

Tsubaki Chika.
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