Appointment's Post
This post is for threading with Nara Shikamaru anytime and anywhere. It can be used for Action or the Ring feature on journals (voice or written) to get in contact with her for personal conversations. This will be used primarily for 'placement' threads such as: someone left a present or 'by the way, come to this party on such-and-such' or the
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He has things to do... he should find his clan's book and look into the medicines listed there for heart and lung conditions - cross-reference with the section of the biology of the Akimichi clan maybe. Copy it down. The doctors at the clinic might be able to make use of that.
He stands in the middle of the living room for a few seconds, trying to remember where he put it.
Absently he turns into his room. He'll need a change of clothes and some other things if he's going to be staying at the clinic for a few days. By his bed, Shikamaru drops to his knees to move the book out from under it. Come to think of it, he should probably pack some things for Chouji, too. He'll appreciate it when he wakes up - because there will be a when.
It's not like he's going to die. His hands continue searching under the bed - he doesn't like things cluttering up his space, so he usually just shoves everything under here. There's an order to it... it's just not coming to mind right now. He's got Law looking after him, and Katara-
His hand closes around something thick and heavy - shogi board, not his book.
And Katara, or more specifically the conversation he just had with her, is the last thing he wants to be thinking about right now.
I fucked it up.]
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She does see him come back, as she's standing in the doorway of the kitchen. She'd been going back and forth, checking the hallway whenever she heard footsteps. Temari only watches as he trudges toward the apartment he shares with Chouji, brow furrowed and lips pressed into a thin line. He's on autopilot, obviously troubled, and she wavers; she's not sure if she wants to interrupt.
But she does eventually follow him into the apartment, following the sounds of rummaging and pausing at the door to his room.
Good thing, too, because if she'd kept walking, she'd have taken a face-full of shogi board. It's a very un-ninja-like muted yelp that might alert him to the fact he has a visitor.
A visitor who is blinking at the board and holding his journal to her chest. That was, uh, unexpected. To say the least.]
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Shikamaru just stares for a few seconds. His mouth is dry, so he swallows.] ...that mine?
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[Come on, Shikamaru. Something besides a blank stare would be good. Hell, she'll even take some more shogi boards flying around.]
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She's already seen him cry once. If there's anyone he's wary of breaking down in front of (again), it's her.]
Thanks for bringing it back then.
[He goes back to digging around under his bed. He knows he'll have to explain things to her eventually. Just... give him a minute.]
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Shikamaru.
[Her voice is even, flat. Give her something, Nara; she's waited in the damned kitchen for word.]
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And there it is - he can feel the edges of the bookmarks crammed in between it's pages. He turns it so that he can get a grip along the edge of it's spine and tries to ease it out - it was a tight fit, getting it under here.
It occurs to him that he's probably being childish. Unresponsiveness and avoidance were familiar tactics when he was genin and didn't want to deal with things. ...and okay, he's done that even recently, too. Bad habit.
He doesn't really care right now. Far as he's concerned, he'll talk when he's good and ready.]
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... You little bastard.]
Nara Shikamaru. You are not going to leave me standing here wondering what in the hell is going on. I've been waiting long enough.
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She's right, though. And he knows if he were in her position, he's be getting irritated himself. So fucking troublesome. Why can't he be enough of an asshole that he doesn't care whether or not he's being an asshole?
...that would make him like Sasuke, he guesses. Fine, not being a complete asshole isn't so bad.
Just when you might have thought he was going to continue ignoring you:]
Did you read it? [He doesn't look up from the text.]
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I read enough. Doesn't give me much idea about how it all ends, you know.
[Chouji may be your best friend, Shikamaru, but he is also a friend of hers. And, damn it all you moron, she's worried about you, too.]
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He swallows again, turning a few pages. If it weren't for what happened with Katara, talking about this would be easy. He could've told Temari what happened with military crispness, like delivering a mission report. Detach and process slowly and these things don't hit you so hard, and you can put off dealing with it until you're ready to do it on your own terms.
But that conversation broke something loose, and he can't. He's been scraped raw and he's trying to put himself back together, but this is Chouji he's talking about and he can't.]
...
[He's trying, though. It's not concise and you're getting the very abridged version now, but at least he's managing to keep his tone even.]
He stopped talking because he was going into cardiac arrest. I took Shino with me and we found him... [If I hadn't had Shino he would've died.] And then I had Shino get Katara and between me and her we got him stabilized enough to move. We took him to the clinic after that, and Katara and Trafalgar Law were able to do more for him there.
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She'd also learned a few things since. She'd watched her brothers nearly be ripped away from her. It hurt. It left her heart raw and bleeding and, despite her many lessons to the contrary, no one could simply turn that off.
So she didn't even try this time.]
But he'll be all right?
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But she's a different person than she used to be, so maybe he shouldn't be surprised at all.]
Yeah. [That statement is laden with relief - because he believes it too. It's an emotion sitting heavily in his chest right now, along with everything else. He has more he should probably elaborate on right now, but suddenly he doesn't fully trust himself to speak again.]
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She sighs and nods.] Good. Then get what you need and get the hell out.
[Go spend time with your friend.]
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...Heh. [It's genuine amusement, and he tries to laugh but he ends up choking on it. Too much at once. He smiles anyways; nods and bows his head and turns back to the text he was looking at.]
That's what I was doing, troublesome woman. Go away so I can get back to it, will you?
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