A young man was walking down a dirt path.
He wasn't too uncommon-looking. Of average height, perhaps 5'6". His blond hair was pulled back into a small ponytail at the base of his neck, as per the fad. If the boy turned his head just right in the sunlight it glinted red, but even strawberry blonds weren't that uncommon, Shikamaru mused.
From his vantage point on Hokage Cliff, Shikamaru Nara couldn't make out his target's eye-color, although they appeared to be a dark shade. The thing even slightly odd about him was the way the stranger held himself. Shikamaru surmised the other boy walked like an old man, dispite his age- roughly 15. Even this didn't rouse the lazy student, as he was prone to such a posture.
Obviously there was an optical illusion to explain the way the blond's feet didn't quite touch the ground. Shikamaru pushed a few rouge strands of black hair out of his eyes. What else could it be?
"Troublesome." The black-haired boy muttered, before pushing himself upwards with his arms. Eventually he adjusted himself into a sitting position that was much more comfortable than laying on the ground without stirring up the foliage. He leaned forward and pulled his binoculars back from the end of the ledge he was sitting on. He would never have gone to spy on a new student of his own merit, even if tradition stated it was his job.
He sighed. He had never expected being a Chuunin to be so active! Tradition hadn't motivated Shikamaru either, but his roommates had promised to clear the dorm for him. Shikamaru preffered resting on the roof of the boy's dorm. The problem was he shared his cabin with Choji, Kiba and Shino, who never failed to create chaos in the form of loud noise. There was no way anyone could relax with them prancing around below him. He kept waiting for the roof to cave in.
The grounds were off-limits, so Shikamaru couldn't stay there undetected long enough to watch the clouds properly. Not to mention the punishments the sensei's came up with were even more troublesome.
So when Shikamaru's three roommates united under Choji and promised to stay away from their dorms until dinner, Shikamaru had jumped. Or at least done the Nara boy's action equivilant with jumping- smiling. Shikaumaru had agreed to spy on all the new students,but so far the only one he could find was this boy. He was about Shikamaru's age, but there were two other students arriving, one older and one younger.
The other reason he agreed to spy on them was curious about the new students. He was loathe to admit it though, because intrest usually led to involvement. And if there was anything more troublesome than people, it was being involved in their affairs. Involvement always led to something strenous that had to be done at night and steal Shikamaru's sleep away.
Unfortunately, he was still curious. It was uncommon for a teacher at Kono academy to have children, let alone for them to pass the entrance exams if they hadn't been trained for it. That one of the students would instantly be raised to Chuunin level was absurd.
The Nara boy pondered the stawberry blond he had seen. Dispite all his amazing skills, he looked... normal. He had been walking down the path to the teaher's quarters with a wistful expression on his face and a steady temp to his step.
Shikamaru slumped back to his previous observation point sadly. He brought his binoculars up to the point the boy should be now if he had mantained his pace. He moved his face forward so he could see through the binoculars, gleefully anticipating returning to his roommates with nothing of interest. He almost moaned when the viewspace was devoid of life, but the boy quickly walked into sight.
'Right on time- very predicitable...' He sighed happily, until the strawberry blond turned to Shikamaru,
'Impossible...' and waved.
Shikamaru grumbled as he put away the tools he'd been using.
Now he was interested, dammit!
TBC...