Life is Troublesome

Disclaimer: don't own WITCH or Naruto

Thanks to z-nadka-zak for betaing

Note: this is not a continue of the old Life is Troublesome but simply a version with some change most of it is exactly the same through.

Shikamaru, known as the genius of Konoha was, for once, having a question he did not have an answer to. That being: where in the world was he?

He had been on a mission together with his team to investigate a strange item that had appeared out of the air just outside Konoha and, as he had approached it, it had sucked him in leaving him in a complete different place with buildings bigger than anything he had ever seen, moving boxes on wheels that went way fast – at least compared to what was normal but for a ninja it wasn't really all that fast.

The clothes of the people nearby were just… strange. He had no other word for it really and no one seemed to be carrying weapons. Likewise, no one was jumping from roof to roof.

All in all he had no clue where he was, other than a place really, really far away from Konoha and he had only one thing to say to his current situation:

"This is really troublesome."

He ignored people staring at him because of his clothes. He couldn't do much about it and it wasn't like he found them just as strange as they found him, the problem of course being that there was only one of him which made him the minority and the one standing out, again "troublesome" that was really the only word he could find to describe the situation. Then again, most situations were just that to him, troublesome.

He walked down the many streets trying to find his way out of the village he was in. That is, if he really could call it a village. The place was so big that it seemed to be the wrong word and with the giant buildings it made it almost impossible for him to navigate. Still, it would be too troublesome to ask for help since he was far from sure that people around here knew about Konoha, so asking about it would be a bad idea. It was called a hidden village for a reason after all.

After about an hour walking around he had to admit that he was lost. He knew he had seen this place before, it seemed like an academy of some sort but certainly not an academy for ninjas from what he had seen. They were learning things like math and language there and not how to create clones or transform into a copy of something else.

A bell rang and teens around his age ran out the building. They seemed eager to get away from the place and many of them met up with friends before walking away in groups. One such group caught his attention: it was made out of five girls but that was not what had gotten his interest. That would go to the power he felt from them, they were without a doubt the first people in this place he had met that had some kind of power, and it was definitely not a power to be taken lightly.

His mind working as fast as it could, he decided that the girls were his best bet on finding a way home or at least finding out where he was without coming out as weird or crazy.

He followed the five girls from a distance wanting to see if he could gather just a little information before confronting them. There, however, wasn't much to find out as they seemed to be talking about normal girl things, like boys and clothes even though the red haired member of the group seemed oddly uninterested and seemed to be on her guard, almost like she knew he was there but surely that couldn't be the case as he was masking his presence and kept out of their site by keeping to the roofs: a place where it was obvious that no one in this "village" would look for pressure.

The group soon split up, going in different directions and, out of a hunch, Shikamaru decided to follow the red haired member of the group as he did, however, it soon become very clear that she knew that someone was following her as she kept looking around and, oddly enough, had taken a firm hold around the pink glass orb she had as a necklace around her neck.

Soon, however, it became evident that it wasn't him she had noticed as Shikamaru noticed a group of boys walking out in front of the girl blocking her way.

How he had missed them he didn't know but he knew that he felt bad for those boys: that girl had power that made many of Konoha's jounin seem weak so it was clear who was going to come out on top of this fight.

Or so he had thought. The girl, however, did not use any of the power he felt from her: she just dodged at a speed that obviously was only normal for a girl her age and it was clear that she wasn't going to do anything out of the ordinary to beat them, could it be that she didn't know she had those powers?

Well since she might be his only way home he had better help her no matter how troublesome it was. He jumped from the roof landing in front of the girl and in between her and the boys.

"What the hell?" one of the boys exclaimed. Obviously they were not used to seeing people jump from the roof of a ten story building.

"What a pain, can't you see you're annoying her? Really, how troublesome." Shikamaru murmured while yawning. These guys were obviously even weaker then the usual scrums of Konoha, which was kind of good since he'd hate to work himself too hard.

The little gang eyed Shikamaru before they charged, only to suddenly stop as Shikamaru used his shadow imitation jutsu.

"Tsk." was all Shikamaru said as he took a kunai from his holster and since his target didn't have any they had simply grabbed for air. "Now as you might see I have weapons and you don't so why don't you just beat it?"

The boys didn't need to be told twice and as soon as Shikamaru released the jutsu, the boys ran as fast as they could which, to Shikamaru, was really slow.

As he was sure they weren't coming back he turned to the girl "Are you okay?"

The red haired girl nodded her head. "Thank you," she said silently "but you know you shouldn't use powers like that, if someone sees it, there would be way more questions then what you'd like to answer."

"Is that why you didn't use your powers?" Shikamaru asked, noticing the shock that went through the girl's eyes. It was obvious that she hadn't expected anyone to know about her powers.

"Partly," she answered after a short pause, "but mostly because I have those powers to protect, not to hurt normal people."

"Troublesome girl" Shikamaru said with a sigh. "How are you going to protect anyone if you're dead and are you saying it doesn't count if it's yourself you're protecting?"

The girl stared at her shoes with a blush on her face. "I didn't think about it in that way." She admitted as she took a moment to gather herself together and then asked "You're not exactly from around here are you?"

"No, I'm from a place called Konoha located in fire country but that doesn't seem to be anywhere near here."

The girl nodded and looked at Shikamaru for a few seconds before sighing. "Hate to say this to you but there is no fire country in this world, it seems like you've travelled through dimensions."

"Troublesome." Was Shikamaru's only comment to that. He could see that the girl wasn't lying which meant that he really had gone a long way from home, and it also left him with a big problem since he had no clue how he was going to get back.

"It could be worse," the girl said with a smile "you see, I'm probably your best bet on finding your way home." She paused slightly. "Well more like me and my friends are your best bet."

She held her hand out to Shikamaru who took it and shook it as the girl introduced herself. "I'm Will Vandom, a guardian of the veil and probably the only person in this world with the power to move through dimensions."

"I'm Shikamaru Nara," Shikamaru said in return "Chunin Ninja of Konoha."

Will nodded her head, "Well I think we need to go to the Silver Dragon and talk with Yan Lin, she'll be our best bet on finding info on getting to the right dimension."

"Well then lead the way, I really want this troublesome adventure over with." The last part was added in a low voice but Will heard it anyway.

"You really like the word troublesome." She observed, amused. All Shikamaru did was confirming Will's statement with a sigh and the words: "troublesome girl."

The two walked for a good while, talking about Will's duties as a guardian and a bit about Shikamaru's life as a ninja before they reached their destination: a restaurant. it seemed, and as they entered, Shikamaru got his suspicion confirmed. Will didn't give him any time to look the restaurant over as she lead him through the restaurant and into a house that seem to be built onto the place.

She stopped outside a door and knocked and a few seconds after was granted entrance. The person inside was an old lady that smiled at Will and sent a questioning look at Shikamaru.

"Yan Lin, this is Shikamaru. He's from a different dimension but I don't know how to get him home." Will said before Yan Lin could ask any question.

Yan Lin looked at Shikamaru for a few seconds in deep thought. "And where are you from my young friend?"

"In the village of Konoha in the Fire Country." Shikamaru answered the old lady nodded and looked thoughtful.

"I have never heard of this place but I will look into it," she looked from Will to Shikamaru and nodded. "Will, do you think you can persuade your mother to let your friend stay with you? He needs a place to stay while we find a way for him to go home."

Will looked at Shikamaru, it was clear what she was thinking, how in the world was she going to get her mother agree to house a boy? Especially with the age both she and Shikamaru had; not an age where mothers would be delighted to have a friend of the opposite gender stay over.

"I suppose I can try," Will finally replied, "but I don't really think she'll be easy to persuade."

"No challenge is too big for the Keeper of the Heart." Was all Yan Lin had to say to that.

"Easy to say," Will muttered, "you're not the keeper." Yan Lin just chuckled at that as Will took Shikamaru's arm and dragged him out the room, not wanting to stay there any longer and also needing to come up with some kind of plan to allow Shikamaru to stay at her place.

As they were outside, Will let go of Shikamaru's arm and looked sheepishly at him. "Sorry 'bout that, I just had a feeling that I didn't want to hear anymore of what she had to say."

"Don't worry about it. Staying longer would definitely have been-"

"Troublesome." Will ended for him, "Yes, I know, you really are predictable you know that?"

Shikamaru was shocked though he hadn't shown it: he, who was known for always been ten or more step in front of his opponent, had just been called predictable by a girl that really hadn't known him long enough to figure out any pattern in his behaviour, apparently, he was wrong through.

"Anyway, let's go talk with my mom. We'll figure out what to tell her on the way there." Will snapped Shikamaru out of his thoughts and he gave a nod of affirmation before he fell in step beside Will and they walked side by side towards Will's home.

"So you have any ideas as to how to persuade your mother?" Shikamaru asked after a few minutes of silence. He wasn't really worried. If it came to the worst, he could just camp outside, it really would be no problem for him to do that.

"Not really, maybe say you had a fight with your parents and needed a few day's to cool off before going back?"

"And being that good friend you are you offered a place to stay?" Shikamaru asked it might work. The problem being that it could take longer to find a way back home than he had to stay.

"I know." Will said with a sigh, much to Shikamaru's puzzlement. She knew what exactly?

"That it isn't the best option." she explained and Shikamaru looked at her in wonder, "What?" she asked, "Wasn't that what you were thinking? That it wasn't the best solution?"

"It was." Shikamaru confirmed, "But how did you know that?"

Will shrugged, "I suppose something in your facial expression told me." She answered honestly, much to Shikamaru's surprise. He was a ninja who learned to mask his emotions, so how had Will seen through his mask?

"Then what should I do if a few days isn't enough?" Shikamaru asked.

"I don't know, this is just the only solution I can think of that would seem believable." She answered, "You know teenagers fighting with their parents is a rather normal thing."

Shikamaru nodded at that, he knew that very well, he often had some 'fight' with his mother. Not really much of a fight though, since he thought it too troublesome and simply agreed with his mother without even listening to what the problem had been.

Will giggled a little and smiled, "Let me guess, your fights with your parents are over in seconds because it's too troublesome?"

Shikamaru was starting giving up on being surprised, Will seemed to know him better then some of the people he had known for years either she was very observing or… he thought the possibility over and then did a hand seal.

Nothing happened, though, which made that option unusable, this was not a genjutsu as he had thought for a moment. If it was then it was a really strong one at least and that did not seem likely.

"What was that?" Will questioned and Shikamaru had to realise how stupid it had to look to Will as he did a weird gesture with his hands and then said a word that made no sense in connection to their conversation.

"I thought that this might had been an illusion so I tried to dispel it." he explained Will smiled a little at that.

"That eager to get rid of me?" she asked in a teasing tone.

"What a pain, no you're actually a somewhat tolerate able member of the female gender."

"Glad you think that way," Will said with a smile "now come on we're at my place." She pointed at the building in front of them and then led Shikamaru up the stairs until they reached the right floor where Will unlocked the door and called out "I'm home!"

"In the kitchen!" a voice called back and Will motioned to Shikamaru to follow her, he did so and soon was in the kitchen where her mother was making dinner.

"Mom?" Will asked and the woman turned around her eyes resting on Shikamaru for a few seconds before they settled themselves on her daughter.

"Um, this is Shikamaru, one of my friends. I was wondering if he could stay here for a few days?"

"Will you know your friends are always welcome here." Will's mother said she turned to Shikamaru and smiled "I'm Susan Vandom, Will's mother."

"It's nice to meet you Mrs Vandom." Shikamaru said giving a small bow "And thank you for your hospitality."

"You're quite welcome." She looked a sharply at Shikamaru, "But no funny business."

"Wouldn't dream of it Mrs Vandom" Shikamaru could say looking straight into Susan's eyes he had absolute no plan on doing anything with Will no matter how cute she might be.

He thought over what he had just thought, since when had he started using the word cute? And since when had that become a fitting word for the girl he hadn't even known for a day?

"Shikamaru you in there?" Will's voice snapped him out of his reverie. Really that girl had proven herself to be too troublesome and that was without doing anything.

"Sorry, I was just thinking." He answered, "What did you say?"

"I was asking if we should go to my room so we wouldn't be in the way for my mother."

"Oh, sure." Shikamaru followed Will through the small apartment and in to a room that was really messy. Will blushed a little but then seemed to gather herself and just smiled sheepishly at her guest.

"I'm not much of a clean freak."

"I can see that." He observed. It was actually nice to know for the sole reason that he wanted to know more about Will no matter how trivial the facts might be.

"Well make yourself at home" she told as she dropped herself down on her bed leaving Shikamaru to take the chair in the room they sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Shikamaru broke it.

"Any place near here where you can watch the clouds?" It was his favourite pastime so it would be nice to know if there were any places nearby where he could do it.

Will shrugged. Clearly it wasn't anything she had thought too much about "I suppose you could go to the roof of this building, that's really the best place I can think off."

"And how do I get up there if I have to do it like a normal person?" Shikamaru wanted to know. Will gave him a smile and then rolled her eyes.

"Through the door, of course." Will got up from the bed and motioned Shikamaru to follow her. They went out of her room and over to the door where Will took off her shoes and then called to her mother that they would be on the roof.

Shikamaru followed Will up the stairs and seconds after they were at their destination: the roof of the apartment building, where Shikamaru instantly laid on the ground looking at the clouds above him, only to be distracted by a certain red head as she laid down beside him.

He knew he should be looking at the clouds but for some reason he found his eyes pinned on Will's whose eyes, however, were pinned to the sky above them.

"This is kind of a nice past time." Will said after a few seconds, it didn't seem like she had noticed at all that Shikamaru was focusing on her and not the clouds.

She turned her head slightly and caught him staring "What?" she asked lightly "Don't tell me you've fallen for me." she continued in a teasing tone.

Shikamaru didn't answer right away he just turned his head to look at the sky before barely high enough for Will to hear he answered, "of course not, that would be too troublesome."

Will giggled slightly and smiled, "I think I'm going to start calling you Mister T. T standing for troublesome of course."

"Haha." Shikamaru answered dryly not really finding it funny through he did consider for a moment to cut down on the use of the word, at least as long as he was together with Will since that girl seemed to think of him as predictable because of it.

"So any special someone waiting for you in your world?" Will asked after a few minutes where the two just lay, looking at the sky and clouds above them.

"No, it would be to troublesome looking for that special someone so I never bothered finding them." Shikamaru answered, wondering where that question had come from.

"I see." Will said silently, her voice sounding strange in someway that the Nara genius couldn't quite place.

Seeing a way to get back at the girl for her earlier comment about him falling for her he asked, "Looking to take up the position?"

"No." Will answered a bit more seriously than Shikamaru had expected her to and he also found that the answer hurt him somewhat. He guessed it was some long dormant male pride that had surfaced for a moment and didn't look any deeper into the feeling.

After that the two fell silent and just lay looking at the clouds until Susan came and called them for dinner, introducing Shikamaru to food he had never seen before. It did taste quite nice though and he made a mental note to get the recipe from Will, maybe he could get his mother to make it if he was lucky.

…

Some days after Shikamaru seemed to have settled down somewhat at the Vandom residence and it did not seem like Susan was in any hurry to get rid of him, in fact, she actually seemed quite glad to have him around which could have something to do with the fact that he took up a bit of the odd jobs Susan else would have to do and did so with no complain what so ever.

He didn't complain because most of them he would have Will accomplish him on and he had to admit to at least have a small crush on the girl, there was just something about her that had caught his attention and it didn't seem like it was going to go away before he was back in his own world and honestly; he doubted a little it'll even go away then.

At the moment he was wandering the street of the city, as he had learned such a place was called, it was technical school hours but since he wasn't enrolled in one and didn't want this fact to be known to Susan he used his days wandering the streets trying to find out as much as possible about the strange world he had end up in, frankly he had never believed in the existent of other worlds but now the theory had obviously been proven wrong.

He looked at the watch Will had given him, there was about 10 minutes till Will would be out of school, he knew this since he had memories her schedule since he liked being there to pick her up, something he never in a million years would think he'd be doing — at least, not for the simple reason that he wanted to.

So he was soon standing outside the school waiting for Will to come out, she soon did but not together with her friends as he had expected, she came out together with a boy and it was very obvious that she wanted nothing to do with the boy.

Shikamaru quickly walked over to the two, "What do you think you're doing?" He almost yelled at the boy as he placed himself between Will and the boy standing as a protecting wall.

The boy did not seem intimidated in the least as he looked past Shikamaru at Will "You turned me down for this piece of trash, Wilhelmina?"

Shikamaru's eyes turned in to a glare filled with hatred. It wasn't being called trash that made him angry, he had been called worse by enemies so it really had no effect on him, what made him angry was the fact that Will had been called by her full name despite the fact that he knew she always made it clear that she wanted to be called Will, that little disrespect for Will was something he could not accept.

Without even thinking the action over he held the boy's wrist in a strong grip "Her name is Will. You better remember it."

He would probably have proceeded to do something stupid if it was not for the soft hand on his shoulder belonging to none other then Will, "He's not worth it, Shika."

Shikamaru nodded, Will was really starting to be dangerous for him. he realised, not in a bad way, but the fact that he could be worked so much up by a simple insult to her and the fact that a few soft words from her could calm him down.

He wanted to say troublesome but that would make Will ask what it was this time. That was so troublesome and he did not wish to explain how it was her that was troublesome, quite frankly she was driving him crazy, a good kind of crazy if there was such a thing.

The worst part was how Will seemed completely clueless to his feelings despite not even hiding them.

The boy that Shikamaru had completely forgotten seemed to take insult in Will's words and the next second had sent what he thought was a fast punch at Shikamaru, obviously, for someone in this world to be faster then even the slowest genin was laughable and Shikamaru had no problems catching the hand and without even thinking over the action twisted the boy's arm sending him to the ground.

He grinned sheepishly at Will who smiled back before saying highly amused, "You see? Not worth it at all."

Will smiled at Shikamaru and blushed a little, "Now I think my hero need a reward." Before Shikamaru could think about what she meant she leant in, obviously about to kiss him on the cheek. He, however, did not catch up on this turning his head, resulting in their lips locking.

He had expected her to turn away instantly after realising the mistake but she didn't, she kissed his lips softly not seeming in any hurry to stop and Shikamaru did not complain in the least.

It seemed like reality slowly crept in to Will's mind and she jerked her head back, blushing an interesting shade of red. "S-sorry" she muttered before running away. Shikamaru, however, was faster than her and even with the head start she had gotten he quickly caught up with her, grabbing her arm to stop her.

Will looked at the ground, tears falling from her eyes. "I can't be falling for you Shika, I can't."

The statement surprised Shikamaru to no end. Was it really that awful to like him? He felt rather insulted, actually, but hoped he would get some kind of explanation.

"Why not?" he asked softly, not wanting to scare Will by coming out to forcefully. The last thing he wanted to do was scare Will.

"Because in just a few days you'll be gone, and then we'll never see each other again."

"You really are a troublesome girl, you know that?" Shikamaru asked silently, his words however got a small laugh from Will.

"You kind of remind me every day, how could I not know?"

"Tell me, Will," he said seriously, "What's best? To have loved and lost or never have loved at all?"

Will slowly looked up at Shikamaru, tears still in her eyes, tears that Shikamaru slowly wiped away.

He waited patiently for Will's answer, even if it was clear what it was by the way she was looking at him. "I-I'd rather love and get the best out of the time." She answered, smiling at him a little.

"That's what I thought," Shikamaru answered, "now why don't I take you on a date?" he asked "you're mother did leave me some money for the odd jobs I did for her."

Will smiled and nodded "I'd like that." Then she took Shikamaru's hand and together they walked down the street heading for who know where. They didn't know, they were just going to have a good day in each others company like they had done the last few days anyway. Though today, Shikamaru did plan to sneak a few kisses in and he was sure Will had no objections to that.

…

Time moved fast, Will and Shikamaru used all their free time together and also all the time Will used on her homework was used in each others company but then finally Yan Lin announced that she could send Shikamaru home.

Will and Shikamaru stood in the back ally of the Silver Dragon. Will holding the heart in her hand, she looked sad at Shikamaru. "I suppose this is goodbye," she whispered.

"Yeah." Shikamaru murmured, not really knowing what else to say.

"I love you, Shika." Will said seriously, "and I think I always will but at the same time I hope I'll move on."

"Troublesome girl," Shikamaru said, "You'll move on," he assured, "I love you too, Will." he said just as seriously as Will had done "And I know I'll love you forever but it seems like I'll have to settle for second best."

Will laughed a little and then moved forward to kiss Shikamaru with as much passion as she could manage, getting just as much in return. As they pulled away, there were tears in Will's eyes.

She hesitated for a second and then closed her eyes, holding the Heart out then in a flash of light a portal opened. "I'd like to say see you later," Will said, "But I'd just be kidding myself."

"I'll see you in my dreams" Shikamaru said kissing Will again, then he moved through the portal before more goodbyes could be said. The last thing Will heard was "I love you, troublesome girl."