two

(Might as well lol. SOLO.)

I woke up the second time and it was dark outside. I looked at the seat where Shikamaru was to see it was empty.

he left-

My thought was cut short when I heard a loud snore coming from on the ground. I peered over the rail and was pleasantly shocked when I saw him sprawled out on a carpet. Guilt washed over me as I watched him sleeping. I sat up feeling alot less tired then before. I grabbed the top blanket and carefully got off the bed I bent down and spread the thin blanket across him. I grabbed one of the pillows and gently trying not to wake him up. Lifted his head and placed it under it. I was about to lower him but was shocked.  I wasn't expecting his hand to reach out and roughly grab my own. His eyes shot open and they looked confused to see me. He seemed baffled as to why his head was in my grasp and continued to stare until he noticed his grip. He slowly released my hand.

"What are you doing?" His voice was deeper than before full of sleep. I didn't think I could talk and what made matters worse was he was looking at me like I was some sort of pervert. I tried to wave away his thought immediately.

"You were on the ground. I was putting a pillow under your head...I wasn't trying to do anything creepy." I said quickly explaining myself.

"Okay?.... Why do you still have my head in your hands?" I quickly dropped him watching in relief as his head hit the pillow I had put down. I got up and went back to the bed embarrassed. I pulled the sheet over me and hoped to die.

"Thanks....." He said yawning. I peeked out from the blanket to see him adjusting his pillow and he fell back to sleep instantly. I looked away not wanting to get caught staring like a weirdo and rubbed my wrist. He was strong.

.......

Morning had come and with it so did my hunger. Shikamaru was still snoring and I made a point to not stare at him sleeping. In case he woke up and thought of me as more of a creep.

Tsunade entered and raised an eyebrow at the sleeping boy before clicking her fingers. A pink haired girl came in, eyeing me with curiosity. She too saw Shikamaru but she looked angry to see him sleeping.

"You must be starving. Sakura set the tray down." The girl stepped around Shikamaru and smiled as she place the tray of food in front of me. It was full of food, the most I've seen ever since I woke up in that cave.

I eyed Tsunade-sama looking for any hint that this was mine.

"Eat."

"Thank you..." I picked up the spoon and slowly dipped it into the soup I could already smell it and my mouth was watering. As soon as it hit my tongue I felt I could've died happy. This was the best thing I'd ever tasted. Sakura the girl who entered bent down and shook Shikamaru.

"Leave him!" My voice wasn't harsh but it stopped her doing what she was about to do. I felt my cheeks heat up as she continued to stare waiting for an explanation.

"He didn't sleep that much..." Which was a lie he probably slept more than I did. Tsunade nodded and told Sakura to leave the sleeping boy where he was. They waited until I was finished before they checked me over.

"You're actually healing rather fast but you'll have to stay in here until you're a healthy enough weight that I'm satisfied with." I nodded feeling grateful for Tsunade-sama. She was really nice she could've kicked me out but she was helping me and I didn't even have any money. She nodded before leaving with Sakura who left with a small goodbye.

.........

Shikamaru stayed sleeping until half noon. He stretched and groaned and his back clicked loudly. I quickly looked away in case I was caught staring.

"Morning." I peeked up to see him rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Afternoon." I corrected. He was suddenly on his feet, hastily doing a shit job of folding the blanket and placed it at the bottom of my feet.

"I have a mission. Tsunade is going to kill me." He groaned loudly before turning back to me, scratching the back of his head.

"Tsunade-sama saw you sleeping. She let you sleep.." he raised his eyebrows at that sighing in relief.

"I'm gonna go check anyways. I uhh I'll get someone to come stay with you." I looked at the curtain as it swung open and in came a blonde girl who had half of her face covered by her fringe.

"Shikamaru! We were suppose to be out of the village 30 minutes ago!" I saw him roll his eyes before turning to the girl.

"Ino don't shout, you're so troublesome." He turned giving me one last look before walking out of the room dragging the girl away by the wrist.

"Wait who is that?..." Her voice travelled with her out of the room.

I ignored the loneliness that appeared when Shikamaru had left and like yesterday a masked man appeared out of nowhere.

"I am here to look after you. Orders from the hokage." I shrunk on to the bed. His mask, had me wanting to run away.

"You're safe, young one." He must've noticed my distress. I nodded not looking at the masked man and started fidgeting with my hands. The silence was almost suffocating. He stayed standing on his feet as if guarding the door. To stop people from coming in.

I had the feeling he was there to stop me going out? I didn't know, all I knew is I wanted Shikamaru or even Tsunade to come back. My wish came true when a tired looking Shikamaru walked in the door, hours later. He noticed my shut off state and sighed.

"You can go, I'm assigned to her." Assigned to me? What did he mean by that? The man nodded and disappeared out of the room.

I let out a deep breath of relief, he really did freak me out. Well not man but the mask. Masks had me feeling creeped out. Shikamaru stretched his back popping his joints and took a seat on the chair next to my bed.

"You know he won't hurt you. He's here to keep you safe." I nodded understanding that.

"His mask is scary." I thought he would've laughed at me seeing how childish I sounded but he didn't he raised his eyebrows in thought.

"mmm.. I use to think that too when I was little." I nodded again..

"Have you eaten?" I nodded remembering the delicious soup I had this morning. I was a little hungry but I didn't want to cause any problems.

"What'd you have? I always hated the hospital food."

"Soup." He frowned.

"From this morning? It's almost five. Did you have lunch?" I shook my head cautiously gaining a massive sigh from the spiky headed boy.

"You should've asked them for food." He got up leaving out the door. Using his absence I got up and found a toilet in one of the doors in my room. I had been busting for the longest time but I was too scared to move with that guy in here.

Shikamaru came back 10 minutes later with a tray of food. It was packed with sandwiches, fruits and he had an extra plate full of meat and veges. My stomach growled at the sight and I had to physically hold onto the bed to stop myself from diving into the tray. He set it down in front of me.

"Eat up." He grabbed an apple and took a bite out of it before leaning back into the chair. I slowly started tackling the huge plate of food feeling guilty when I couldn't get through half of it. The guilt was erased when Shikamaru took the tray off of me and finished the rest of it effortlessly.

"Thank you."

He nodded calling a nurse to come take the tray away. 30 minutes after I ate Tsunade entered.

"Good to see how much you ate. You're looking better everytime I come in." I nodded feeling better.

"Shikamaru go get someone to wheel a bed in here for you." He nodded leaving.

"Tsunade-sama?" She looked at me and nodded.

"Why is Shikamaru 'assigned' to me?"

She stayed quiet, taking a seat at the end of the bed.

"You aren't from this village. It's more of a precaution to see if you're a threat to the people here." I nodded kind of intimidated, why would I be a threat? ....I was right about feeling I was being kept in.

"You aren't being held hostage, it's just a precaution." I looked up at her and trusted her.

"Thank you for saving me." I whispered, she reached forward ruffling my hair as Shikamaru walked in a nurse pushing a bed in for him.

"Well since you've eaten already. All I can do right now is wish you good night. If you need me or anything ask Shikamaru to get it for you." I nodded noticing Shikamaru had gotten on his bed and fallen asleep already. Tsunade rolled her eyes at the lazy nin and walked out of the room with a smile on her face, flicking the lights off as she went. I lay down feeling content for the first time since I woke up in the place. I closed my eyes relaxing as the sound of Shikamaru' snores filled the room.