The return to Konoha was inevitable and painful. Shikamaru didn't want to leave, and she didn't want him to go. It was as if his heart was being torn in two. On one hand, he had to return because that was his home, but on the other, he wanted to stay with her because Harika was becoming just as important to him as the village itself. The only reason he knew he would go back to Konoha was that he might find information there about her peculiar case. That, and because he knew they would see each other again sooner or later. The fact that he could communicate with her now had lifted a weight off his shoulders.
Despite everything, or maybe because of it, they spent their last day together glued to each other. Sometimes literally. He hugged her like a plush toy, needing his dose of her before leaving, and Harika did the same. She buried herself in his neck as if she didn't want to face reality, and he did what he could, which was little compared to what he wished he could do.
"I have to go," he admitted, knowing he couldn't wait any longer.
"I know."
"I promise we'll see each other again as soon as possible," he promised. Harika nodded against his chest, melancholic, and he took her face in his hands so he could look her in the eyes. "Hey. I promise, okay?"
Suddenly, he felt those three words at the tip of his tongue. They appeared out of nowhere so strongly that it surprised him. Still, something stopped him from telling her he loved her, and when he thought about it for a moment, he realized it was his brain silencing his tongue. Until now, he had been led more by his heart than his mind when it came to Harika, but now part of him was rebelling. His mind urged him to protect his heart a little longer. It was too soon to tell her he loved her, his brain insisted, and he sighed but obeyed. Still… he wasn't stupid, and he knew that sometimes words weren't necessary to show affection and love.
He put all the love he felt into his goodbye kiss, taking her lips with a devotion he still couldn't profess out loud for fear of what it meant. He caressed her chin with his thumb, savoring her delicate kiss, so different from the ones they shared the night before, yet just as incredible.
"You've promised me, Shikamaru. See you soon."
"See you soon," he agreed, nodding and turning around.
He ran into the forest without looking back. Barely a thousand meters in, he already felt that knot in his throat from leaving her behind. As he ran toward Konoha as fast as possible, trying to convince himself not to turn back, he realized one of the things that worried him most about leaving her was her lack of protection. If she had been living in Konoha and he was the one leaving the village for a mission, he knew he wouldn't feel this worried because the village would offer her a safety she didn't currently have.
That's why he needed to pave the way for her to move in with him as smoothly as possible. Maybe, at worst, he could convince her to return with him to Konoha on one of his next visits while they kept investigating her return home. Distracted by these new plans, the journey felt lighter as he thought about everything he had to do once back in Konoha. Because there was a lot to do.
His return home was silent. It was nighttime, and everyone was sleeping. As he walked through the spacious house his family occupied, he realized something very important: he needed to move out. Until now, he hadn't minded living with his parents because he had privacy in his room when he was in the village, and it wasn't like he had a relationship or anyone he wanted to bring home. Now, however, things had changed.
Harika would eventually move to Konoha. Whether she did so permanently in the distant future or temporarily in a few weeks before returning to her home and then coming back again, he would need a place of his own. Maybe Harika would prefer to rent or buy something in the village independently before agreeing to live with him, which he would understand and even find logical, considering their relationship was still very, very new. But that didn't mean she couldn't visit him whenever she wanted.
He didn't want to throw her to the wolves right away, nor did he want to have to explain himself to his parents every time she came over. No. He needed his own space, even a small one, where she could feel comfortable without having to pretend in front of parents she didn't know.
The next day, instead of lazing around and postponing it as he would have weeks ago, he found himself talking to his father at breakfast. The sun hadn't even risen yet, so his mother was still asleep, which suited him perfectly for having this conversation privately.
"I want to move out," he said bluntly, making his father choke on his first coffee of the day. They both knew he wanted something, but it was clear this wasn't what Shikaku Nara expected. "I wanted to know if there's any clan house I could move into."
"Where's this coming from?"
"For privacy, obviously."
His father stared at him silently, calculating. Shikamaru knew he was weighing the reasons why he'd make such a request and that he'd arrive at a partially wrong conclusion. His father didn't know he had broken up with Temari, unless Naruto or Temari herself had said something, so he was probably assuming correctly that Shikamaru wanted a house to invite his girlfriend over, but incorrectly assuming that girlfriend was Temari. No one knew Harika existed except Naruto, so the possibility of his father thinking he'd met someone he liked on a random mission was practically zero.
He didn't correct him, knowing that doing so would trigger a barrage of questions he wanted to avoid at five in the morning. Still, he knew he had to tell his friends and allies that he'd broken up with Temari because he didn't want them thinking he was disloyal or that Harika was "the other woman" or anything like that. Besides, he wanted to control the narrative in case Temari decided to… do something about it. Only six days had passed since he'd broken up with her, so his friends wouldn't be alarmed that he'd waited a few days to tell them, especially since he'd been away on a mission in the meantime.
"Alright. I'll have them find you a house near the forest, on the other side of the property. Does that sound good?"
"Perfect."
One problem solved. Worst case scenario, if he couldn't access clan resources, he'd rent a house himself. He wasn't worried about the money, given his savings and salary, but he preferred the clan's security over any random apartment in the village.
"Heading out?" his father asked when he saw him get up and wash his cup.
"Yeah, I need to talk to Ino and Chouji. See you later."
He left home, heading toward the training grounds. He planned to train alone for a while before facing the beast. He didn't even want to imagine what Ino would say, the questions she'd ask, her yelling… Ugh. Just thinking about it exhausted him.
He trained for a long while, clearing his mind for once, when he heard the familiar footsteps of his friends and teammates approaching. As soon as they saw him, doing kata repetitions with weights on his legs, they froze on the spot.
"Who are you, and what have you done with Shikamaru Nara?" Ino asked, folding her arms suddenly. "I'm serious. First this, and the other day you actually showed up first at the restaurant, without me dragging you!"
Shikamaru sighed, physically and mentally tired, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. He removed the weights, giving himself a moment to respond, then sat on a fallen log.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about… I broke up with Temari."
"Seriously?"
"What!?" Ino screamed, stunned. "B-but I swear… I thought you'd end up marrying her!"
"Why?"
"Well… because… Actually, now that you mention it, I don't know."
"I do," he cut in. "It's because she reminds you of what my parents have, right?"
Ino thought about it, frowning, until her expression shifted to surprise again as she realized he was right. Chouji offered him some food, comforting him, before speaking much more calmly than Ino.
"I always wondered why you agreed to date her. It was obvious that half the time, when you were together, you were just tolerating her. Last time I saw you on a date, you looked like you were praying for it to end."
"I agreed to date her because she was very persistent, and you know I've always tried to emulate my father but not in this. I like Temari, no doubt about that, but I'm not in love with her. And it's true that whenever I went out with her… I just wanted to go back home."
"Then you did the right thing breaking up with her," Ino nodded. "It's not fair to her or to you to keep going like that."
"I know."
"And how did she take it?"
"Suspiciously neutral… It's clear she didn't take it well, but… I don't know. She accepted my decision way too quickly for someone who's always been so persistent, even when I rejected her the first time. Either way, my relationship with Temari is in the past."
"Are you going to tell the others?" Ino asked, watching him sigh. "Or do you want me to hint at what happened?"
"Would you do me that favor?"
"Of course. You know I love gossip. Leave it to me."
…
The following days were more chaotic than usual. His mother had raised hell when he told her he was moving into another clan house, but once she saw he wouldn't budge and that his father wasn't taking sides, she simply gave in and accepted his decision. Not that she had much of a choice, considering it was the first time he'd been just as stubborn as she was. It was clear his father was thinking something about all this, judging by his curious and interested looks, but he said nothing once he saw his son refuse to yield to his ever-determined wife.
The house her father had given her was small. It had a single floor, one bathroom, a kitchen, a living room, and a couple of bedrooms. The most interesting thing about the house, and he believed it was the reason why his father had given him this particular one, was the large backyard, surrounded by cedars and poplars, and the wooden pergola full of lush lavender-colored vines that separated the back porch from the garden. He needed some outdoor furniture where he could sit to have dinner or chat, but he could already imagine himself there with Harika, alone and away from the world.
He didn't have many things to move into his new house, so in less than a day he finished bringing everything he needed, which basically consisted of clothes and not much else. He had to buy utensils and some furniture, but with a ninja scroll and a few clones, he managed to set it all up in less than a couple of hours. He even bought several cookbooks to start cooking on his own now that he was living far from his mother. He didn't feel like dropping by her place every day to eat unless he wanted to starve.
What he really wanted to do, in truth, was find Naruto. Since he had free time, that's exactly what he did. He had to walk around the village a couple of times, but he finally found him with Sakura at Ichiraku.
"Shikamaru!" exclaimed his friend as soon as he saw him appear. "Did you get to see her?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Naruto."
Sakura raised an eyebrow, curious, but didn't say anything while Naruto quickly slurped his noodles and got up from the stool. He left a small bundle of bills next to his plate and said goodbye to his friend, who looked utterly confused.
"See you later, Sakura-chan."
They left the restaurant wall-side in an indefinite direction. He didn't say anything while waiting for Naruto to lose what little patience he had, which he calculated would happen in 3…2…1…
"What the hell was that the other day?" asked Naruto, making him laugh at how predictable he was. Naruto frowned at him.
"Not here. I need a private place to tell you what happened."
"Let's go to my place, then. There's no one there."
Shikamaru felt a pang of compassion at hearing that. Naruto hadn't meant it that way, but the fact that he said so casually that there was no one to bother them or waiting for him… Honestly, it hurt Shikamaru to know Naruto had no one in his life. And since Harika was becoming his moral compass, right alongside his father's figure, he knew what she would do.
"You know, Naruto… I've moved. My new house is on my clan's grounds, but I live alone, and I've got a guest room. If you want to come over from time to time… that'd be nice."
Naruto stopped dead in the middle of the street, just a few meters from his building's entrance. He turned to look at him, just like he had the other day, and they stared at each other. Finally, Naruto nodded with a smile and a joke that hid more than Shikamaru had thought. It hurt again, realizing how lonely his friend felt. Considering how many friends Naruto had, there was no reason for him to feel this way all the time. Clearly, they were failing as friends.
Naruto's apartment was small but clean and well-kept. He'd been there a couple of times before, but he promised himself he'd visit more often. They sat down on a couple of chairs around the small round table that stood between the L-shaped kitchen and the sofa.
"So? Why did you make that face when Temari showed up? You looked like a dead man walking."
"Temari was my girlfriend. I broke up with her that same day. I only dated Temari for a month, and that was because she convinced me. The thing is, I met Harika on a mission. I got injured, and she healed me. I stayed with her for a few days and, well…"
"You liked her?" Naruto smirked, half-joking, half-serious.
"'Liked' is an understatement," he laughed abruptly. "Being with her made me realize a lot of things. One of them was that I couldn't stay with Temari because I don't love her."
"I see… Now everything makes sense."
"What does?"
"Sakura told me, who heard it from Ino, that you told her you'd broken up with Temari. Something about not being in love with her and not wanting to repeat your parents' mistakes."
"That's true," he admitted, realizing that Ino had understood more than he had said. "Knowing how I feel about Harika, it was obvious I couldn't stay with Temari."
"And what's she like?"
Seeing Naruto watch him attentively, genuinely interested in what he had to say, broke his resolve. He found himself reciting everything he knew about her: what he liked, what amused him, what excited him. He talked about how they'd spent the last few days together thanks to his help, how they'd become a couple without hesitation, how they'd discussed returning to Konoha, and why he'd moved.
With every passing minute, Naruto's eyebrows climbed higher while he clearly suppressed a smile.
"Damn, Shikamaru. You're totally gone. You were right when you said she might be the love of your life. If you already feel like this… I can't imagine how you'll be in a few years."
"Neither can I, but I'm looking forward to finding out."
"And this whole personality transplant of yours, is that her doing too?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you'd never have invited me to your house before," Naruto admitted. "Maybe you wouldn't have minded if I came, but you'd never have initiated it. Not because you didn't want to see me, but out of laziness. You didn't used to have this much… initiative, let's say."
"…Sorry for taking so long to offer, Naruto. Really… You know we're friends, right? You're one of my best friends, like Chouji and Ino, like the others. I'm sorry it took someone like Harika for me to realize it."
"So the personality transplant is her doing," Naruto laughed, eyes bright with unshed tears. Shikamaru said nothing, hearing the emotion in his voice.
"I guess things are different now, yeah. Now, whenever I'm at a crossroads, I think about her and what she'd do. She's so different from me in some ways, but I care about her so much that she helps me think differently. My father has always been my role model, but since we're alike, it's obvious I'd be prone to making the same mistakes because we think similarly."
"Either way, I'm glad. You used to seem so distant, and now it feels like you're actually living your life."
"That's true."
"Well, what's the next part of your plan? You said you wanted to know if she felt the same, and she does. So now what?"
"Now I need to figure out how to get her back home… and also how to make sure she can return," he admitted with a sigh.
He knew that if he wanted help, he needed to reveal a key piece of information, but Harika hadn't given him permission… Still, Naruto had influence with the Hokage, so he'd need him to get access to classified documents and maybe adjust his missions to see Harika. Plus, Naruto was his friend, and he knew he could trust him. Thinking about it that way, he hoped Harika would understand that he needed to tell Naruto the truth if he wanted to move forward with his plan to get her home.
"What I'm about to tell you is a secret," he said as sternly as possible. Naruto raised an eyebrow, sitting up straighter. "You can't tell anyone, got it?"
"I promise."
"Alright. The thing is… Harika isn't from around here, let's say."
He proceeded to explain enough for Naruto to understand the full context. Naruto didn't call him crazy; instead, he seemed curious and amused by what he was hearing. Finally, he nodded when Shikamaru explained what Harika had been doing these past few days to find clues about how to return home.
"So you're going to investigate here in Konoha while she works outside, right?"
"Yeah."
"Makes sense," he nodded again. A few seconds later, a mischievous smile crossed his face. "So… when do I get to meet her?"
Shikamaru stared at his friend in exasperation. He knew Naruto was going to ask something like that. Naruto was far too curious not to try after everything he'd told him about her.
"As you can imagine, I can't just leave the village whenever I want."
"Leave it to me. I'll get us a mission, and meanwhile, you check for clues in Konoha's library and archives. With a little luck, you'll find something useful."
"If I don't, I'm going to need access to restricted documents," he warned, knowing he'd need Naruto's help for that. "I'd rather not have to ask my father."
The last thing he wanted was his father's piercing gaze following him everywhere in the village. That was one of the reasons he hadn't explained the real reason behind wanting his new house. He knew it was inevitable that his father would hear rumors about his breakup with Temari, which meant he'd realize Shikamaru had no real reason to move. That alone would make his father keep an even closer eye on him than usual, but if he could avoid it, even for a few days, all the better.
"I'll handle it."
…
Just a few days later, he found himself back in the Hokage's office. The moment he saw Naruto's sly grin, who had, curiously, arrived before him, and noticed Sakura and Sai were present, he knew Naruto had done it again. He had to contain his excitement as he figured out the reason for their visit to the Hokage's tower.
"Now that everyone's here. Shizune, the documents," Tsunade-sama ordered.
"Here you go, Shikamaru-san."
Shikamaru read through the relevant documents, ignoring Naruto snooping next to him, and considered what he could do to carry out his mission and see his girlfriend again. He was certain he'd need Naruto's help, but that wasn't going to be a problem. After all, Naruto had secured this mission to meet Harika himself. The real issue would be Sakura and Sai. Fortunately, he could now communicate with Harika, so they could meet at specific coordinates without him needing to search for her. The less time he spent away from his team, the less suspicious they'd be.
It wasn't that he wanted to keep his girlfriend a secret, but… part of him worried about overwhelming her by introducing her to his not-so-normal friends, and another part wanted to keep her to himself a little longer. What? Yeah, he was more possessive than expected.
"Are we heading straight to the attack coordinates?" Sakura asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah. I want to investigate the area. They probably have a base somewhere nearby."
The mission was a rescue-and-capture type. Rogue ninjas, now acting like bandits, had attacked several villages in the Land of Fire, up north. They'd kidnapped civilians and raided armories, which had brought the matter to Konoha's attention. He was certain they'd expect an attack, and Tsunade-sama surely thought the same, so it made sense to send a team like his. Naruto might be a genin on paper, but he had jonin-level skills, Sai had been trained as an ANBU since the start, and Sakura was the team's medic; though he hoped they wouldn't need her abilities.
The journey was relatively short, partly because they were fresh, just out of the village, and partly because they were getting closer to Harika. He'd already sent her a short message with the coin. She knew where he was headed, so he hoped she could get as close as possible without putting herself in danger. He'd also warned her to stay safe, considering the bandits roaming the area. Still, something told him she could protect herself easily. He hadn't yet seen her use her abilities beyond crafting the coin or turning a stone into a bird, but he was eager to find out what else she could do.
When they arrived, it was already midday, so they took a break to eat and talk.
"How are we going to proceed?"
"We'll split into two groups: Sakura, you go with Sai, and Naruto comes with me. I want to investigate the last raid site and the abduction area. Even if it's unlikely, if you encounter the enemy, avoid engaging without the whole team present," he said. The others nodded without protest. "With a little luck, we'll find a lead or even a trail to follow."
"I'd like to examine the abduction site. Maybe I can figure out the civilians' condition and prepare for any eventuality."
Shikamaru nodded, accepting Sakura's reasoning. He doubted she could deduce much about their condition from the site alone, but it was never a bad idea to try and anticipate things. After their improvised meal, they split up in the middle of the forest.
When he was finally alone with Naruto, he saw him start grinning from ear to ear.
"You've already talked to her, haven't you?"
"Yeah."
"Is she nearby?"
"I'll send her the coordinates of the last raided village. That way I can see her while investigating the crime scene," he answered, trying to sound as professional and serious as possible, even though he was bending the rules.
He sent Harika the coordinates as they started running toward the village. They arrived quickly and wasted no time questioning locals and searching for clues. He almost forgot she was coming, almost, when he felt her presence brushing against his senses. Shikamaru turned slightly, nodding absently at the information the armory owner was giving him, but his gaze drifted toward Harika standing beneath a tree's shade in the distance. He had to summon all his willpower not to leave the man talking to himself. All he wanted was to run to her and kiss her. Damn it, who would've thought being in love felt like this?
He noticed Naruto approaching, keeping his girlfriend firmly in his peripheral vision as he spoke to his informant, and watched as he went up to her.
"Excuse me, are you a local resident?" he asked, assuming she was another villager.
Harika, still smiling, looked at Naruto. The moment she saw his ninja headband, he knew she'd figured out he was part of Shikamaru's world. No, Shikamaru was sure his girlfriend already knew who Naruto was just from his descriptions of his friends. When she smiled at him, he knew he was right.
"You must be Naruto, right?"
"Huh? But—wait a sec!" Naruto quickly turned to Shikamaru, grinning wider by the second, then spun back to Harika with the excitement of a child. "You must be Harika, dattebayo!"
"That's right."
"I can't believe it. Shikamaru was telling the truth."
Harika laughed, and for a moment, Shikamaru couldn't focus on anything but his girlfriend's bright eyes and beautiful smile.
"Pleasure to finally meet you, Naruto. Shikamaru told me that thanks to you, we were able to see each other the other day," Harika said. Naruto, hearing her genuine gratitude, blushed.
"It was nothing. Shikamaru's my friend."
"Then I hope we can be friends too."
"Of course!"
Shikamaru shook his head with a smile, watching how quickly Naruto and Harika connected. If he didn't know Harika loved him, he might even have felt jealous…