Series: Naruto
Rating: G. Gleamn' clean.
Warnings: None, seriously. Unless you, like the spell check, have a problem with my excessive fondness for commas.
Summary: OneShot, Future kinda: Shikamaru watches clouds. That's new… Drabble, a bit Team Tenish.
Author: Mewling
Title: Routine
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Routine
by mewling
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There are four things synonymous with Nara Shikamaru's name; genius, cloud-watching, laziness and shadow manipulation.
So when he's lying on his back on the roof watching clouds and one covers the sun, casting him and a chunk of Konoha village into shadow, he thinks there's probably some deep, symbolic and metaphorical meaning behind it.
He just doesn't know what it is. He's a genius, not a poet.
Nowadays, he's a popular ANBU leader- and he doesn't understand this. He knows that the vast majority of the time, those aiming for fame end up in mediocrity. So why on earth, when he aimed for mediocrity, did he end up famous (comparatively speaking)? Shikamaru yawns.
He hears Chouji climbing up the side ladder to meet him on the roof. Either that, or the building's about to collapse.
He feels Chouji's shape as it moves toward and around him, and hears his feet as they slide along roof shingles. Even more familiar is the sound of the plastic bag —no doubt crammed with snacks— that collapses, gently, beside him. Its white shape wavers in the corners of his vision, like the clouds above.
Shikamaru expels a breath in the comfort of his routine. Little things, like Chouji on the roof every three o'clock, help him keep track of time. At three-fifty, Ino will come out of her flower shop and yell at him for napping on her roof, and Chouji for sprinkling chip crumbs on her Precious Customers, and he knows that in ten minutes he'll have to be at the Hokage's office.
The rhythmic chomping of the man beside him has its usual soporific effect, as does the comfort of friend-below and friend-beside and that feeling of Everything-Is-Not-Too-Bad-In-The-World-Today he's used to. Shikamaru's learnt how to arrange himself, like everyone else, around every one's routine.
So like a movie that loops around every week, the pattern of Konoha exists, and continues to do so, at a peaceful, sleepy pace. When Sasuke and Naruto accidentally rip a hole in a street during a spar that goes a wee bit out of control, restaurants start serving their lunch time menus, and Lee's Serenading That Sakura Girl Again Is It Saturday Already?
Spring melts in to summer, then summer blows in to autumn, autumn recedes to winter and it all begins again. The earth moves slowly around the sun at a pace he can almost feel, in his bones. Warmth of the sun on his face, Shikamaru's mind dips in and out of unconsciousness, resulting in odd gaps between the rustlings of bread wrappers to his left.
Eyelids heavy, Shikamaru watches the clouds cast shadows over Konoha, and thinks he's becoming old.
"Shikamaru!" yells a voice from below. "Get your lazy butt the hell off my roof!"
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/END ROUTINE/
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A/N: Not much to say. Uh…
Please review.
UPDATE: Fixed a typo I thought I already had, and had, but apparently only in the word document. Heh. Sorry.