Kruno's pov

Shikamaru pulled his lips back from my forehead, and I glanced up at him, his hand still squeezing mine gently.

"Who all won?" I asked, and he put his free hand against his head, tapping against it slightly before nodding his head.

"You, me, Naruto, Sasuke, Kankuro, Gaara, Temari, Neji, Shino, Dosu, and Sakura." He said, and I frowned when I didn't hear Kiba's name. I think Shika already knew what I was thinking because he looked at me and shook his head. "No, Kiba fought against Naruto. It was a really close match, but we both know how much a knuckle head Naruto is." I nodded my head.

"Where is Kiba?" I asked, and Shikamaru glanced over at the sheet that separated me from the other side of the room where another bed was.

"He's over there. He was trying to get up and come over here to see you earlier, and he fought against the doctors and ended up passing out from the loss of all the energy, such a drag." He said, and I shook my head slightly. That boy was a handful, but as was I.

"I figured since youre awake now, we could go and get some food? Celebrate, if you would. Since we're the only two from our team to continue through to the last exam, what a drag." Shikamaru said, and I nodded as I moved my very sore legs over the edge of the bed, and attempted to stand up but I fell into Shikamaru's grasp. That's when he grabbed a pair of crutches from beside my bed, and handed them to me. I groaned slightly, but reluctantly put them under my arms and used them to support my weight. Shikamaru kept a hand on my back as he led me out of the room.

"You took a hell of a beating from the bomb trick you set up, it was too dangerous." Shikamaru said, and I rolled my eyes.

"Worked though, didn't it?" I said sarcastically, but Shikamaru just shook his head. We walked out of the hospital together, and I shielded my eyes from the large amount of fucking sun that was out. It was slightly annoying...

"Where are we going to eat?" I asked, and Shikamaru shrugged.

"Don't know yet, you troublesome woman. We have to stop by my house because I left my wallet there." He grumbled, and I nodded slightly before limping with him to his house.

We arrived at his house, and he walked inside for a few moments, and I could hear his mother screaming at him. I giggled slightly as Shikamaru ran out of the house, his mother chasing after him until she got to the door and she saw me. She stopped, placing her hands behind her back and smiling at me.

"Oh, hello Kruno!" She said before she turned around and walked back into the house. I glanced at Shikamaru and laughed slightly as he rubbed his head slightly.

"Of all the women I know, she is the most troublesome!" Shikamaru called out, and we turned around and began to walk away. I sighed slightly as I used the crutches to walk, which I hated more than I hated anything. It was hard to move around with two giant sticks in my fucking armpits.

Shikamaru and I arrived at the BBQ place, which seemed to be the only place we ever ate, and sat down at a booth. We both ordered the same thing, and just made small talk as we waited. This felt rather perfect. Just the two of us sitting here, talking about random things.

Finally, our food came and we both dug in, and within five minutes, I had finished my entire plate of food. Shikamaru looked at me with wide eyes, and I tilted my head slightly.

"What?" I asked, and Shikamaru shook his head and leaned forward, using his thumb to gently wipe away the BBQ sauce that I had covering the area around my lips.

"You eat even more like a dog that Watamote and Akamaru do." Shikamaru said, and I glared at him before I used my arm to wipe away the sauce from around my mouth.

"You're an asshole." I said, rolling my eyes.

"You know, I don't know when you got such a colorful vocabulary." He said, placing both of his arms on the table, laying his head on his arms, but still looking up at me. Honestly, I knew where I got it from, but I didn't want to tell Shikamaru because it wasn't worth it.

"Who knows." Was all I said, and Shikamaru just nodded, pulling his wallet out of his pocket and throwing the amount of money on the table for how much our food was, never lifting his head up until he got up from the booth and walked over to me, extending his hand to help me up. I laced my fingers with his, and he gently helped me up before handing me my crutches. He made sure that I was perfectly comfortable before he let my hand go, and we began to walk again.

"I wanna take you somewhere." He said, and I nodded my head as we walked down the streets of Konoha. Eventually we got out of the town, and made a left turn towards a large him. I glared at Shikamaru slightly, and he stopped looking back at me. "What?" He asked, and I looked back up at the hill, then down at my crutches. Shikamaru groaned loudly and walked over to me, picking me up bridal style in his arms. He carried me all the way up the hill, and I made sure to keep my crutches close to me.

He sat me down on the top of the hill, and then laid his body down beside me. I laid back in the grass, as we both just stared up at the clouds. We sat in a fairly comfortable silence, until he broke it.

"This is where I used to come when you were gone. I would sit up here, and I would bring a lunch with me to. I always brought your favorite food, and I would sit up here and eat, looking up at the clouds, just hoping that you would magically appear here, and everything would be okay." He said, and he glanced over at me. I turned my head and looked back over at him, placing my hand on his arm gently.

"I always sat right here, and that is where I cried a lot. One day, I scared the crap out of my mom and she thought I had gotten taken too because I cried myself to sleep up here. She was running all around the town, but my dad found me up here and cried me home. I have to say, I had never ever heard my mom scream as much as she did that day, and that's saying a lot." He chuckled, and I gently brushed my thumb against his smooth skin. "I never knew how bad I depended on you and your friendship until it was ripped away from me." He sighed softly, and I moved my hand down slowly so that our hands were laced together.

"Well, I'm back now, Shikamaru, and I don't plan on leaving ever again, I promise you." I said lightly, and I felt his hand tighten around mine. I squeezed his hand back gently, and looked back up at the sky.

"Remember when I promised you that I would never hurt you, when we were like five?" He asked, and I nodded. He looked over at me, turning his head completely in my direction. I turned my head to look at him, and we caught eyes. My breathing caught in my throat slightly, and he continued to talk.

"I still promise you that."

///

Shikamaru and I stayed up on the hill for a few hours, before he carried me back down onto the flat land. I knew that his mother would want him home before supper, so I smiled weakly at him when my feet touched the ground, and my crutches were under my arms.

"Go home, Shika. You have about ten minutes before your mom will beat the shit out of you for not being home on time." I said, and he sighed very loudly, mumbling a 'what a drag.' under his breath, before he nodded and hugged me tightly. I hugged him back weakly, and a blush formed on my cheeks as I felt his lips press a gentle kiss against the top of my head. He let me go, and turned on his heel, walking away from me. I smiled slightly, and began to wobble away on my crutches.

I won't say that I got very far, because I didn't. I ended up loosing my balance, and falling to the ground. I groaned loudly as I rubbed my back, before seeing how far away my crutches had fallen from me. I sighed and fell back against the groan, throwing my arms over my chest and pouting.

"Still a pouter, aren't we Kruno?" A voice asked, and I looked up to see Kankuro. I rolled my eyes and laid my head back down against the ground.

"When was I not a pouter, Kankuro?" I said, and I heard him walk to one side of me, and I assume that he picked up my crutch, because he then walked to the other side. Eventually, he leaned over my body, his painted up face smiling down at me. I smiled back at him and he slowly helped me up off of the ground, helping me steady myself on my crutches.

"Thank you, Kankuro." I said, and he nodded his head.

"Of course, cutie." He said, smirking, and I used my left crutch to hit him in the back of the knee.

"Still the same cocky asshole you were three years ago, aren't you?" I said, putting my nose up in the air with a humph.

"And you are still the same abusive bitch you were when you left!" He said, and I looked over at him with a scowl. I then chuckled slightly, and so did he before we started to walk together. It was strange, honestly. I haven't seen him since I finished the mission that sent me to Suna in the first place. But in the few months I was there, the siblings were the only three I got close to. (Temari and Kankuro more than Gaara, but that was natural)

"You know, we have an unfinished deal, Kankuro." I said with a smirk, and he looked over at me with wide eyes.

"HOW DO YOU STILL REMEMBER THAT?!" He shouted, and I shrugged slightly.

"I have a great memory, don't insult me." I said, pouting again.

"You forgot what apartment you stayed in and broke into the neighbors place..." He trailed off, and I used my crutch to smack him in the back of the knee again. He scowled back at me, and I only smiled.

"That was a one time thing, and they forgave me, so hmph." I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He said, throwing a limp hand in my direction.

"So, about our deal..." I said with an evil smile. "You're going to finish it now!"

"What?! No!" he said and I nodded my head as we stopped in front of the flower shop. I pointed inside and he grumbled a few words before he trotted inside. He came back out a few moments later with a large bouquet of flowers. He handed it to me hatefully and I smiled, holding them close to my chest.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?!" I said.

"Shut up." Was all he said as we walked together. See, we had a deal in Suna that if I could beat Kankuro to the top of a large sand hill, he had to buy me flowers and something eat, but if he won, I had to do his laundry for a week. I won, obviously.

"I'm saving the food for another day, so I'll see you another day, bye Kankuro!" I said, waving at him before I limped along. I stopped by my house, and walked inside. I looked around, and I didn't see my mom so I just shrugged and walked into my bedroom. I laid the flowers down on my bed, before I looked around. That's when I noticed the small wrapped box sitting on my nightstand, and I walked over to it. I picked it up and checked the tag, and I smiled. It was from Shikamaru. The little tag on it said "To: A troublesome woman. From: Shika."

I sat down on my bed and opened the box, pulling out a small pendant from the box. It was a blue heart, and I twirled it around in my fingers, until I saw the writing on the back of it. It was so small that I had to squint to see it, but I smiled when it became clear. It was a small S and a K, with a smiley face at it. I chuckled lightly and I attached it to my clothing.

///

I was sitting on my bed when the door opened slightly, and I looked up to see Kiba. He was hanging his head slightly, and he walked over to me. He laid down on my bed, and placed his head on my lap. I gently started to run my fingers through his hair, and he sniffled slightly.

"You did great Kruno." He said, and I smiled slightly at him as I continued to play with his hair, knowing it calmed him down.

"I'm sure you did too." I said and he shook his head, sighing heavily.

"No, I didn't. I'll never be able to become Hokage if I can even be beat by Naruto..." He trailed off slightly, and I sighed softly. Not a lot of people knew that Kiba wanted to be Hokage, because he was never as vocal about wanting to be Hokage as Naruto was, but it was a dream of his since we were little.

"You can be Hokage no matter what, Kiba. You will pass, maybe it wasn't this year, but you will pass next year. I promise." I said with a smile, leaning down and kissing his head. He didn't response, so I continued to play with his hair until he fell asleep. Soon enough, I fell asleep in a sitting up position, my brother still laying down across me.

//

kind of a filler??? Idk.

But gUYS I NEED A SHIP NAME FOR KRUNO AND SHIKAMARU!!!!!!!!!

SO COMMENT SOME AND ILL PICK OUT MY FAVORITE.

ALSO, I am going to have poll sorta of thing. Who do you think took Kruno, and then who do you think raised her?!

The answers are different (;

Anyways, I love you my sunflowers <3
don't forget to vote, comment and follow!<3

ps.
someone should draw me a super cute picture of Shikamaru and Kruno. I would love you forever <3