A/N; Ha ha, I'm working on my writing skills so don't hurt me please if this sounds OOC .__.;; First story ever so...please be gentle?

Disclaimer ; I do not own Naruto.

Hope you enjoy !



He wasn't an idiot. He was a genius with an IQ over 200 for heaven's sake! So why, why did he take up that habit?

A puff of smoke left his lips as brown eyes watched as the gray smoke vanish in the blue and cloudless skies.

Shikamaru wasn't an idiot; he knew that smoking was bad for your health. It damaged your lungs and turned your teeth yellow. You die an early death, too and your breath would stink and girls would run away from you.

Troublesome.

Asuma was a smoker and he loathed the fact that his sensei smoked. It made his eyes water and there was always the fear that Asuma would get lung cancer. He didn't say anything about it, after all Asuma wasn't an idiot. His sensei probably knew the consequences so he probably lived with the fact that he would die of lung cancer, if he didn't die in the line of duty.

At least Asuma didn't die from lung cancer.

Another wisp of smoke.

People thought of him as his sensei now, after taking up the habit. Some of them, like Kurenai and the other jounins thought that he had taken the role of Asuma, and treated him just like his sensei. That was fine, he didn't mind.

His friends tried to make him stop after a while, namely Chouji and Ino. They were worried about his health if he kept up the habit, worried about him. But he didn't stop, it was addicting. Maybe that's why Asuma couldn't quit, he mused to himself. But he had his reasons to continue, though it was kept to himself.

No one asked why he started to smoke. It was an obvious answer: because of Asuma. Asuma died and Shikamaru took his place. A way to remember his sensei could be another way to phrase that.

Another puff of smoke left his lips as he watched the gray clouds of smoke slowly disappearing, the sky above him once again turning blue.

On a cloudless day, the smoke was his cloud.