The sun dipped low over Konoha, casting the compound in gold and shadow, as if nature itself couldn’t decide where to place her allegiance. The wind whispered through the trees, but it was the chakra—the heartbeat of the world—that truly stirred the air.

Hers was everywhere.

Even from across the garden, Shikamaru could feel it curling in the space between them, warm and fierce and alive. Naruko didn’t need to move or speak—her chakra reached for him like it always did, searching without asking, demanding without words.

It was beautiful.

It was maddening.

He leaned against a wooden beam, arms crossed loosely, one foot hooked behind the other in that lazy posture he wore like armor. But his eyes—those sharp, always-calculating eyes—never left her.

“You’ve been pulling me toward you since the day we met,” he murmured, the words low and thoughtful, like he was still working the equation aloud. “But lately… it’s louder. Closer.”

He stepped forward, each movement quiet and measured, the shadows stretching with him as if the earth itself obeyed.

“My chakra doesn’t know peace when you're near. It latches on. Wraps around yours like it’s afraid of letting go.”

Another step. He was close now, voice just above a whisper.

“Maybe it’s the pregnancy. Maybe it’s the child. Or maybe…” he tilted his head slightly, gaze tracing her features like a man studying a battlefield.

“Maybe this was always going to happen. You, with your fire. Me, with the dark. The world keeps spinning, and somehow we’re always right here—caught in each other’s gravity.”

He let a breath pass, his hand barely brushing the edge of her sleeve, the contact feather-light but charged.

“I don’t want to control you, Naruko.”

A beat.

“I just don’t see the point of a future that doesn’t have you in it.”

And then, his voice softened further, dipping into something darker—gentler, but no less absolute.

“I’ve already planned for forever… but I want to hear it from you.”

He looked at her now—open, calm, as if all the madness behind his stillness was waiting for a single answer.

“Tell me… what do you want, Naruko?”