Clouds
I do not own Naruto
A cool, soft breeze blew through the land, making the grass sway as it past. The leaves picked up and flew into the air, back down and up again in a never ending cycle.
His black pineapple shaped hair blew into his face, causing him to scrunch up his nose. He was laying on his back on the side of a hill, staring up at the passing clouds, not paying any attention to the shape of the clouds or to what they formed. Easing his heart rate and breathing, he closed his eyes for a bit. He felt at ease. This hobby always seemed to calm him down.
"Heeeh..I thought I'd find you here, Shikamaru."
Spoke too soon, rising up onto his forearms he looked behind. Clad in his Jounin attire but with black pants and black steel toed boots, was his best friend. Blond hair, bold whisker marks on his cheeks, never ending smile plastered on his face, yep that was him. Falling back onto his back he crossed his arms under his head.
"What are you doing here, Naruto?"
Naruto walked forward and plopped himself by his best friend's side. Bringing his knees in, he rested his chin in between.
"Heeeh... I didn't know I needed permission from you to come here."
"Why, yes you do. Didn't you know that, I thought I told you last time you came here?" he smirked, he loved to rile Naruto up, he was the only one among their shared friends to get a reaction from him.
"WHATTT I HEARD NO SUCH THING... oh landlord of this insignificant hill, may I be a burden to you and lay here?" he gave him puppy dog look.
"Shut up" He turned toward his side, away from Naruto.
He grinned and laid down staring up at the clouds passing, assisted by the soft breeze. There was a silence between the two, as it always happens but it did not bother them. There was no need for constant communication, these two were the least of the communicative bunch who graduated from the academy years ago.
"Looking up at the clouds again Shika?"
Turning onto his back again he resumed his daily activity.
"Mmhmm...you are the one who got me into the stuff, barely have time to train"
"Hmmm...and since when have you been into training? Last time I saw you actually train was for an hour, you stopped suddenly and then layed down." he added with a grin.
"Shut up, or I'll kick you out."
"Hai hai."
Again in silence.
"Neeh..Shikamaru. Remember how we met on this hill."
"Hmmm...I don't really recall" now he had the smirk.
"How dare you, that was the single most important thing in my life an.."
"I'm kidding, I remember."
"..good."
Another moment of silence passed.
"Why did you bring that up?"
"What? Oh it just passed my mind, the time at the hill when we were kids."
Turning his to face towards Naruto he studied his facial features for a bit. He turned back towards his clouds.
He thought about the time he first met Naruto.
It was after the academy one day. He didn't have anything to do at home and he didn't want to train either, so he opted out to explore the village's famous hillside. It was a peaceful place, known by shinobi and villagers alike to have a nice picnic there or a date with a significant other. He walked and walked, it took forever to get there in his mind. Having reached it he began to walk around, looking into tree holes for birds and bugs, picking blades of grass and making a whistle by blowing through it when it was in between his thumbs, and climbing trees. He spotted a boy with blond hair on his back at a far off hill. It looked like the boy was from his class if he recalled. The boy never talked much and was always reading something different in class, maybe that's why he was always getting yelled at. He never paid much attention to him, the occasional glance and such. He didn't seem to have any friends though, which puzzled him to no end, and the adults always had an indifferent look or one of anger when he was around, which confused him even more. Going against his routine of avoiding needless trouble he jumped off and walked towards the mysterious classmate. Getting closer her saw what he was doing...nothing..just laying down, arms crossed behind his head, and looking up.
He looked up too, all there was were clouds. Weird he thought. He reached him and stood feet away from the boy.
"Hey."
Mystery boy shifted his head towards the guest and nodded.
"What's your name?"
"Hmmm...I'm surprised you don't know my name. We have been in the same class for a year now, Shikamaru. But my name is Naruto." he said still staring towards the sky.
Shikamaru fidgeted a bit. Sure it was embarrassing not knowing a classmate's name, but he was always sleeping, he couldn't be blamed, right? Having stopped his fidgeting he dared to ask another question.
"What are you doing?"
"Cloud watching."
Cloud watching? There was a hobby like that, who knew?
"Cloud watching, why?"
"It's nice."
"Nice? But what's the point in doing it?"
"There isn't much of a point to it."
"Then why do it?"
"Not everything has to have a definite point to it."
"But wh.."
"Neeh, Shikamaru. You ask a lot of questions don't you."
He stopped talking. He didn't know why he was engrossed with this..Naruto.
"Hey Shikamaru, lay down and you'll see what I'm talking about."
He didn't have anything better to do, so he layed down next to him. Crossing his arms behind his head he stared up at the clouds.
"Now ease down your breathing and heart rate. Look at the clouds and clear your thoughts."
He did as he was told. It didn't make any sense. After a while of just staring at the clouds he got up.
"You'll understand eventually Shikamaru" Naruto continued to stare at the sky.
"...Yeah. I'll come by tomorrow."
Naruto nodded and closed his eyes. Shikamaru walked off towards his home, thinking about the point of cloud watching.
For a month straight, Shikamaru came to the same hill to see Naruto. Mainly to see if he was actually there all the time. Again they would say hello, Shikamaru asking a couple questions and Naruto telling him to lay down. It was troublesome for Shikamaru. He still did not understand the concept of 'cloud watching'. He knew people did it, to point out shapes or to tell stories to children. This whole thing still escaped his genius mind.
"Naruto, I still don't get it."
Naruto smiled. He rather enjoyed the short time he spent with Shikamaru, even though he never showed it.
"Do you want to know?"
He shot up and nodded frantically, he needed to know. This was on his mind 24/7.
"Hehe calm down."
Naruto sat up and looked at Shikamaru.
"You're smart. You have probably noticed the looks I get from adults and the fact that I have no friends."
Shikamaru slowly nodded.
Naruto smiled, far too forceful in Shikamaru's books.
"I'm jealous of clouds... almost to the point of hating them. Want to know why?"
This was new to him, how can someone be jealous, borderline hateful of clouds. He nodded again. Naruto layed back down and looked up again.
"Clouds are free, I am not. Clouds are not affected by anything, I am. Clouds don't have a care in the world, I have to in order to survive. Clouds come and go, I only have one life, tested by the people. Do you understand now?"
Again he could only nod. He now understood what Naruto ment by looking at the clouds. Clouds didn't have a care in the world, so free. It seems like a stupid and childish idea for Naruto to harbor jealousy towards insignificant things such as this, but he sort of understood Naruto now. He fell onto his back and breathed out, looking up at the clouds they drifted with the breeze as if playing. Yeah he got it now. The two boys have established an understanding between each other, through the shared hobby of cloud watching. Looking at clouds wasn't the only thing they did together. They also trained vigorously, they ate, spoke about their troubles, they sat together in class. One sleeping and one reading, sometimes alternating Naruto would sleep and Shikamaru would read what Naruto had read. Which were training scrolls Naruto had found in the Clan's trash bins. He found one from his family's scrolls too, advanced one at that. He looked over to see Naruto was grinning.
"Finders keepers. Don't judge me." he grinned and went back to sleep.
He just shook his head and went back to reading 'his clan's scroll'.
Although they never voiced it, these two were fast becoming friends, maybe best friends.
Hanging out with Naruto brought him some of the same looks Naruto received, but it didn't faze him. He didn't care although Naruto said to stop hanging out with him, he knocked him upside the head whenever he said that. His parents surprisingly told him to stay away from him. It shocked him really, his kind hearted mother and genius of a father told him to stay away from Naruto. This made him angry but Naruto always managed to calm him down.
They spent their days after class training and watching the clouds. This continued on even after they graduated the academy. Having been placed onto a team took quite a big chunk out of their time together but still managed to at least eat, train or do their hobby for a short time. Even after the academy, being placed into a team with his peers, and going on missions and perhaps meeting new people, Naruto still failed to make friends. He trained, ate, read, did his hobby, spent time with Shikamaru, and slept.
This concerned Shikamaru, he knew what his past classmates and friends spoke about Naruto. They spoke ill of him, putting him lower than dirt and he did not like it. He often spoke out but was brushed aside. Naruto told him not to worry. But he did worry, he witnessed how this was finally getting to Naruto. Less of the hobby and more training with much more intensity. All the reading paid off when he saw Naruto perform clan techniques like his shadow possession and a solo fang over fang, even the famous Jukens strikes. But he did them with a much darker purpose. His techniques all had a purpose to destroy and mangle, having seen lines of trees be ripped apart and craters far too big for the simple techniques.
He had to save his best friend from traveling a dark path. So he brought him out to spend some time with his friends, Ino, Chouji, and Shino. They were against it at first but Shikamaru gave a small threat to treat Naruto correctly or else. It was awkward at first, but Shikamaru pushed and pushed and eventually all 5 became close. Ino, Chouji, and Shino eventually both apologized to Naruto for what they said about him, he brushed it off saying no harm no foul.
Years past and they became Chunin, then Jounin. Some even talked about taking on a team of genin, oddly enough Naruto spoke of this too.
The two still retain their friendship after all these years, and for years to come as well, he hoped.
He opened his eyes to look at the clouds. This became a hobby to pass the time now, a form of relaxation, not of jealousy and anger. He felt a pain at his side.
"Ow, what was that for Naruto?"
"Have you been listening to me? Ino-chan, Chouji, and Shino are waiting for you to come and eat some BBQ. They sent me to get you, it's been troublesome trying to find you" he grinned.
"Heeeeeh...Ino-chan is it. Since when have you guys become a thing" he got up and dusted himself off, walking up the hill.
"Hurry up, you are making miss out on BBQ. Mmmmm meat, the best in the world. Peeh, Chouji probably already ate all the meat, beacuse of you wasting time" he blushed, trying to change the conversation away from his precious Ino-chan.
"Hai hai, were on our way just hold on"
They walked to their destination, Naruto's mouth watering and Shikamaru telling him to wipe his mouth. They received smiles from the villagers and shinobi alike, their opinion changed about Naruto after he saved them from the War against Madara. Far too late if you asked him but none the less it's a good change. They were mere feet away from the BBQ house when Naruto stopped, causing Shikamaru to stop and turn his head towards him.
"Neeh..Shikamaru. Thanks..for everything" he had his head down in a small bow.
He smiled and shook his head.
"Shut up. Come on BBQ is waiting" he walked inside leaving Naruto outside.
He brought his head and had a smile. He had to thank his best friend for everything some other time again, but now his BBQ is waiting.
Brushing the curtains aside, he walked inside to sound of laughter.
RxR
Other story should be updated soon, peace.