Hey, hey, HEY!
Snow Fairy here with her FIRST story! EEEEEEK! So excited!
Please give me reviews, even if they are to criticise... I can take it!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters affiliated with Naruto's world... wish I did, me and Shikamaru could go all nig- Oops! Got a bit carried away, heehee! x3

WARNING: This chapter contains the following:
*insinuated nudity, only to be left with intense disapointment
*An unstable Kakashi

PAIRINGS FOR THIS FAN-FIC: ShikaTema... so far...

Anyway, Enjoy!

"Iruka-Sensei…?" Konohamaru was tugging on his sleeve. "Are you alright?"

Iruka Umino tore his eyes away from the window, and looked down at the boy.

"Y-yes, of course…" he said, mussing Konohamaru's hair with one hand as he turned to his desk. "Where are the others?"

"Well, you said that we were going out for shuriken practice, but you haven't moved…"

"I'm fine, Konohamaru. I just thought I'd seen something outside, that's all…" Iruka smiled, and Konohamaru grinned back.

"Okay, then! I'll see you out there, sir!" Konohamaru ran out of the room, his footsteps echoing loudly in the corridor.

As soon as they faded, Iruka's head whipped back around to stare out the window again, this smile replaced with a look of serious concentration. He scanned the view of trees that he could see through the window, but he couldn't see anything out of place…

Did I just imagine that? He asked himself, as he walked slowly down the corridor towards the training field. Hmmm…

Shikamaru Nara waited until Iruka had left the classroom before breathing a sigh of relief. Maybe he hadn't seen him… He had clung to the other side of the tree in hopes that Iruka missed him when he had turned back, and he'd even stopped breathing. But Iruka hadn't climbed out of the window to berate him for being outside wearing nothing but a pair of track pants, so maybe he was safe.

It had all started with a bad dream. He'd not been able to get to sleep after that, so he'd gotten up and gone outside to train a little bit… and fallen asleep in the tree outside Iruka's classroom. He couldn't remember what the dream had been about though…

Geez… what a drag, Shikamaru thought as he leapt from tree-top to tree-top towards his house, trying to keep out of sight… if one of the women of the village saw him, then his mother would kill him for sure…

"Hey! Asuma!" Iruka called out. Asuma turned around to see the other teacher puffing from exhaustion.

"Heh heh… maybe you should go on a few more missions instead of teaching children, Iruka…"

"Shut up…" Iruka panted, giving Asuma the biggest glare he could from the ground. "I… wanted to ask you… something…" he finished, straightening as he got his breath back.

"Have you seen Shikamaru around at all today?" Iruka asked.

What a strange question, Asuma thought as he lit a cigarette and placed it in his mouth, taking a drag as he did so. He thought about it for a moment.

"I saw him this morning," he finally answered. "He looked like he was in a hurry to get somewhere, though…"

"Okay, next question," Iruka fired again. "Was he wearing clothes?"

"Wh- what?" Asuma gasped, the cigarette dropping from his lips. Iruka bent down in one lightning-fast movement to grab the cigarette before it hit the ground. He straightened again, the cigarette held between his fingers, and popped it back into Asuma's mouth, slapping his cheek as he did so.

Asuma jerked out of his daze, though he continued to stare at Iruka. Iruka sighed and shook his head.

"Never mind, then… See you later, Asuma." He zoomed off.

Asuma took another drag of his cigarette and continued on his way, before turning back to see Iruka running back up towards the school.

"'Was he wearing clothes?'" he asked himself again, as Iruka's form vanished. "I wonder…"

Shikamaru only just got back into his bedroom before his mother came in to wake him up.

"Get up, lazy bones! You have errands to run for me today, and your father needs help with a few of the fawns!"

Shikamaru decided the best thing to do would be to pretend he had just woken up. "Ugh, Mom!" he groaned, pulling the covers over his face, as she opened up the blinds.

"Why is your window open?" she asked, turning back to the lump under the covers.

"I wanted a breeze last night," the lump answered, fighting to keep his panic under control and out of his voice.

"Hmmm…" His mother moved around the room, picking up bits of laundry off of the floor on her way out. As she went to close the door behind her, she laughed. Shikamaru poked his head out from underneath the blanket to hear her say, "If you want to sneak out and train at night, I have no problem with that. You are a Chuunin now, after all. However, I do not want you lying about it. Leave a note when you go out."

Shikamaru sat up, letting the covers slip off of his shoulders. He stretched, and his neck twinged from sleeping in the tree. He loosened the muscles in his neck, and got dressed, throwing his now torn, muddy and disgusting pyjama pants onto the floor as he did so.

"And another thing," his mother called through the door. "If you continue throwing your clothes on the floor after wearing them, I will feed you nothing but deer-feed for a month!"

Naruto was at the public baths, practicing his walk-on-water technique. Currently he was walking on his hands backwards and forwards across the steaming hot water. He finished his final lap around the bath, before flipping back onto his feet.

"Graaaagh!" he shouted, causing shrieks from the ladies' bath next door. "Where is that pervy sage? I need training!"

He ran out of the bathhouse, causing more shrieks as he went.

From the treetops, Kakashi was watching him. He felt bad for the kid, but he had promised Jiraiya that he wouldn't interfere with Naruto's "training". It didn't help, of course, that every time Naruto had seen him recently, he had begged for a new technique to practice, like the Chidori.

For Naruto's sake, he thought, burying his head back into his book. Jiraiya had better return soon, or I will have to go back on my word… and I really don't like doing that…

He jumped down from the tree, still thinking about promises. He could barely look at either of his old students now without feeling guilty.

I shouldn't have promised her that, he thought, as he passed her family's apartment. I shouldn't have promised that everything between Naruto and Sasuke would be okay.

He passed by the ramen shop, where he could hear Naruto sucking up his breakfast with delight.

I should have spent more time with Naruto, like I promised, he thought. Then maybe I could have stopped their rivalry from driving my team apart…

He stopped at his own apartment, letting himself in and dropping his book on the floor as he went up to his bedroom. He threw his forehead protector and vest onto the bed and continued on to the bathroom.

He could see his reflection in the mirror, the expression in his eyes hard. This was what his opponents saw when they fought him, the ever-cool jounin who never backed down, never lost his temper. He ripped off the mask, and expression was suddenly very different. It was ferocious, his mouth twisted into a snarl, which, usually hidden behind the mask made the look in his eyes seem murderous.

At least, that was what he'd seen before he'd slammed his fist into the mirror, shattering the glass and imbedding small fragments into his knuckles.

He sank down so that he was sitting on the edge of the bath-tub, clenching and un-clenching his hands as he did so. He was breathing heavily, and his chest was starting to ache a little bit. He looked down to try and calm himself, and saw larger pieces of the mirror lying on the floor.

He picked up the largest of the slivers and twiddled it between his fingers for a little bit, letting the glass catch the light. In the reflection he caught another glimpse of his sharingan, and the glass slipped, slicing open his palm as it fell. He stared at the line of red on his pale palm and smiled, standing up to what was left of the mirror, and watching his reflection smear the red across his face.

So there you have it! My first chapter!

Please review, whether you love it, hate it or just wanna chat... hit me up! I'm not afraid of you! *Starts shaking*

Ok, just as a little side not, i have a Deviant Art Account under the same name, link below... i haven't posted anything yet, but it's mainly for any accompaniment art pieces i have for any of my works...

.com/

Next chapter should be up soon...

So buh-bye for now!

Snow Fairy
xoxo