I got my writing fever back! FINALLY! Unfortunately, my internet is not yet repaired and somehow I get the bad feeling it never will be. After having a Naruto marathon, I've decided to start a marathon of my own. So many possible pairings and matches it was too much of a hassle to write any of them down but I know them by heart…and image!
This is just a short story or rather a test for a ShikaNaru vid that I'm planning.
After Naruto, will be Inuyasha! BOO YEAH!
Summary: Shikamaru Nara's not your average student, but he's a scientist for NASA as well. While juggling the days of going to school and being a wiz kid, Shikamaru gets everything he didn't want to come true; a loud and arrogant, bratty kid, Naruto.
But for some strange reason, the young scientist is having a hard time concentrating on his current projects because of a certain boy that keeps grabbing his attention. Although the new kid is noisy, Shikamaru can't help but worry about him. Even his best friend, Choji can't get his attention anymore![a/n: Just so you know, they're 14!]
Warning: Um…not much but a bit of thoughts concerning Shikamaru.
Disclaimer: I owe the respect to the person who created this lovely tale of Naruto and his friends! I do not own Naruto or any other character presented in this fic!
Rumors and folk tales, as annoying as they sounded, only a few kids paid no attention to these boring and out-of-the-blue conversations. Among these few people were Sasuke Uchiha and Shikamaru Nara, both geniuses in their own ways, yet both very different on certain levels. Sasuke was a ladies man while Shikamaru was on the least popular list among women but at the same time had no regrets about such trivial matters. He only had one wish that he knew any girl he met by now would never grant him. A wish that he personally thought was the best among all wishes ever created. Wishing he could watch the clouds and do absolutely nothing for any purpose or reason. Of course he imagined his best friend, Choji, to be there next to him, watching the clouds along with him.
But as wonderful as cloud watching sounded to him, Shikamaru was trapped in a scientist's body and locked behind solid bars of the school grounds. A school that allowed no visitors of any sort, parents included and intended for the students to stay in dorm rooms for the remainder of their lives until they were old enough for a job on the outside.
He had always wondered how so many women were able to get into such a tight school that had the highest requirements that stood out from any other school known to kids his age.
The only way it was possible to enter was by making an affordable tuition fee or giving the school a high donation of money. Either way you looked at it, the school was obviously no place for the poor. That was until he met the son of their principal, Naruto Uzumaki, who was also 14, who looked the spitting image of his father. Letting out a sigh of annoyance, Shikamaru looked away from the front of the room and gazed out the window, watching the birds fly away into the rays of the sun.
It wasn't anything personal against the boy himself or the fact that he was probably the richest kid in their school. All Shikamaru had to do was take one look at the young lad and knew right away that his quiet days would soon be over. He just wanted to be in a peaceful environment where no one could disturb him and his slow minded actions. He was laid back and was hoping to stay that way until he grew tired of doing nothing.
The teacher, who had brought in the new boy, patted Naruto on the back and gently pushed him toward the center of the front of the room where he could speak properly to introduce himself. Shikamaru was not the only one to be glaring at the kid. But Sasuke and some of the other boys in the class were also glaring at him. The boy took one look at the class and kept on smiling with the same wide grin he had on when he had entered the room.
"Hey!" When the boy got no reply, he simply started introducing himself. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. And I'm going to be the next principal of this school! Believe it!" There was an awkward silence in the room.
Like Shikamaru, Sasuke and Kankuro had reacted a little differently to Naruto's outburst. All three looked at him like he was crazy while the other students began to laugh their butts off. Before Shikamaru knew what was happening, the teacher, Iruka Umino, had set up a seat for Naruto next to him! Finding out about his new seat buddy, Shikamaru gave out a small sigh and tried not to let the kid bother him so much.
Trying his very best, Shikamaru avoided any type of gazing that the young boy was doing and at some point had given up and fallen asleep during the class. Only a few minutes into his short nap did he feel the tapping of another student, the only tapping that could be done when another person was sitting close to you. It was Naruto. Not the least bit surprised, Shikamaru tried to look sleepy in case Naruto was the type to fall for the act of 'waking up the demon!' But as Shikamaru glared at the other boy, there was no reaction from him but just two round drops of blue water that seemed to sparkle even when he wasn't smiling.
"Listen kid; don't go making friends with me just because I sit next to you. It's too much of a drag to be seen with you. Don't take it personally." Once again, there was no reaction to the harsh words that Shikamaru had just spouted out. Instead, Naruto's face seemed to be more relaxed than his own.
Shikamaru yawned and laid his head on his arms to try to get a quick nap in before lunch. But the boy sitting next to him was persistent and jabbed him a few more times. Shikamaru let out another sigh and got back in the common upright position that was required of all students. His friend, Choji, saw the whole scene and was amazed at how fast he had awoken from the shortest nap in history. Choji smiled to himself and let his attention wander a bit before looking back at the front of the class.
It would seem that this new kid had certain abilities aside from being the principal's son and heir to the school, Naruto looked to be different from the other students. Perhaps it was because of him still being the new kid.
The class dragged on to Shikamaru's disgust for the boring class, however, Shikamaru was surprisingly interested in the way the teacher explained the different topics, on top of it all, the boy next to him seemed to be having a great time for just his first day being here. He never thought the day would come when he would enjoy being in class for the day. Unaware of it himself, Shikamaru had let a smile grow on his face.
Their teacher, Mr. Umino, caught Shikamaru smiling and began to feel taunted by him. He wasn't a bad teacher, right? Of all his years at the school, Umino had never once thought of himself as a bad teacher. But now, this young student, who had been looked up to by so many other students as the next top scientist for their country, was now smiling instead of snoozing in his class. Was this really the true Shikamaru? Mr. Umino also took note of the new boy sitting next to Shikamaru and wondered what could have possibly happened in the very few minutes that Naruto had been sitting next to Shikamaru.
"All right, Shikamaru! Tell me on the chalkboard, the purpose of this equation." Mr. Umino wrote the equation on the board halfway and left the piece of chalk for Shikamaru to use.
The boy in question scratched the top of his head and as much as Shikamaru loved working on books of questions and puzzles, it was just not the right moment for him to be doing an equation this time around. Because of a certain boy in their class, Shikamaru was not able to sleep during the teacher's boring part of the lecture. But why Naruto was to be blamed for it was something Shikamaru didn't even knew the answer to.
"What a boring question, sensei." The kids looked on in awe as Shikamaru answered the question without hesitation or blinking. Mr. Umino forced a smile onto his face as Shikamaru walked back to his desk with his hands in his pockets.
Naruto was just more in awe as everybody else and was looking at him differently than the others were. Shikamaru watched the boy for some kind of reaction but again, Naruto showed no emotions of surprise or jealousy like the others were. Instead, the smile on his face felt warm and calm. Naruto was definitely someone to take an interest in. Shikamaru looked away and went about to looking at the clouds again, ignoring everything that their teacher was trying to teach them.
For the remainder of second period, most of the kids were a bit bored and began to get a little anxious since the lunch period was just about to start. Some of the kids like Choji had already begun eating in class be it a bag of chips or a few carrot sticks, the kids were beginning to get hungry. Shikamaru on the other hand was just as tired as he was before the first period had ever even started. He took a big yawn and allowed his head to settle on his arms, hoping Naruto wouldn't tap him like he had done before. But since they had a different teacher, perhaps the kid would start watching out for himself a little bit more.
"Mr. Nara, please do not sleep in my class, all right?" Kakashi Hatake was the school's best known teacher and did not permit goofballs or idiots to be taken seriously. His rules were stricter than the other teachers but deep down he really did like the students, so long as they didn't give him a hard time.
"Mr. Hatake, I think he's tired." This short comment stopped everyone in their tracks from what they were all doing and all of them looked over at Naruto and Shikamaru.
The teacher looked at the new kid as well as Shikamaru and let out a sigh. A mask that shielded half of his face only caused more interest among the rest of the students as they watched closely for the next reaction. Shikamaru sighed as well and lifted his head up. The other students then suddenly burst out in a cheer of laughter. It wasn't every day that a student had said something so blatantly obvious to a teacher before.
"Yes, well, on with the lecture then." Mr. Hatake began reading aloud as he intended to do so.
As the lunch period came around, Shikamaru and Choji had been hanging out in their regular spot by the fountains when a small boy with blonde hair came and stopped in front of them. Shikamaru glared at Naruto while Choji sat back and watched the scene unfold. He knew his best friend well enough that he wouldn't glare at anyone like this unless it was for a reason. "What is it now?" The boy didn't seem the least afraid by Shikamaru's stare. Was it because he knew how powerful his father's position was? Or was it something beyond that?
"I just wanted to fully introduce myself! I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" The boy's hand was held out awaiting Shikamaru's response. But Shikamaru's hands remained in his lap where they had been since after eating his sandwich earlier.
"Why are you so happy? Is it because your father is planning on handing over an entire school in your name when he retires?" The question left Naruto puzzled and a bit hurt at the same time.
"Sorry I bothered you, Shikamaru. I guess you really don't remember me. That's fine, see you later!" Choji, who had been the witness of Shikamaru's first outburst, was now seeing another side of his best friend. As for Shikamaru, the boy was obviously puzzled by Naruto's words.
Shikamaru re-thought the said words over and over in his head to try and remember if he had ever met the other boy before Choji and before ever going to this school. But his memories had all come up blank.
This was what had gotten him so bothered. He had never met anyone who he couldn't remember after first meeting with them. So why was his mind coming up with blank pages of a memory he could not remember? It was the first challenge that had ever presented itself to him in a long time.
"That question really got to you, huh?" Shikamaru snapped out of his thinking and realized without him knowing, he had put his hands together in the form of a small rectangle. It was a current habit of his when he was in deep thought.
"The fact is I don't even know what I was remembering. I have no memories of him at all as a child but…I just can't help feeling that I might actually know him since childhood but whatever. If he really was in my memory bank, it should stay in the past, right?" Shikamaru had the look of an uncertain person and the evidence was in plain view for anyone to see, especially Choji.
Feeling the sense of being too harsh on the new kid, Shikamaru explained to Choji that he would be going to the washroom and to not wait up for him if the bell should go off for the next class. Choji was fooled. In all honesty, Shikamaru had only thought it wise to see that his apology was accepted if he was to be able to stay in the school. As the son of a current scientist it was only natural that he kept up his grades and stayed in school.
What caught Shikamaru off guard was the sound of constant beating sounds that were taking place just a few feet away from the front of the school. He was just about to turn around so as not to get involved with something so trivial when he heard the name of the boy getting beaten up being called out numerous times.
'Oh man, why does this only happen to me? Ever since that dumb kid came, it's been nothing but a nightmare!' The science wiz thought to himself as he pondered on the current situation. He could always call for a teacher to come over but then that would mean more problems with the bullies for the near future.
As Shikamaru saw it, there was certainly no way either of them would make it out of this small trouble without getting punched around a bit. But there was always another way. Since he had the brain of a scientist, Shikamaru was certain the plan was already a success even before he ever started his plan. As good as a plan created by him, he never doubted his abilities and watched in fascination as the boys beating up on Naruto stopped to look at the small speck of red light that was traveling on the wall. It was a laser pen that had not been shipped out to the different shops nearby and had yet to be perfected by his father's company. Shikamaru's laser pen was given to him for his third birthday. Never seeing any use for it, Shikamaru had not used it for anything up until now.
The laser pen did its work and scared the students off as they thought of it as an alien type of creature that would jump from one person to the other. Shikamaru felt at ease again.
This sort of thing would only be able to work once and if he would have to use it again, the kids would probably try to find the source of where it was coming from. He let out a long sigh and rounded the corner of the building where the new boy was lying on the ground, face down in the dirt, blood had been trickling down his nose and a clear blue and purple bruise had rested on the corner of his left eye.
"You sure know how to make friends, kid. Let's get you to the infirmary. Can you walk?" When Naruto did not reply to his question, Shikamaru took this as a yes.
Looking at the boy now, Shikamaru thought he had seen people with the weirdest faces, but Naruto's face had been pretty beaten but it did not look as serious as to being knocked out unconscious. He stopped in mid way of his thinking, just realizing that he was actually feeling sorry and relieved to see Naruto in one piece minus the blood that he lost from his nose.
"Why?" The question left Shikamaru confused. They both stopped walking and looked at each other.
"Why? What? Why did I save you?" Shikamaru had to admit that the boy looked like a very sad human life form. The saddest one since he had met Choji.
Naruto looked to the ground to avoid the other boy's gaze but found he was going around in circles. He would stare at the floor for a few seconds then back at Shikamaru's face; the face of the boy who he had grown to rely on since they were children to be there for him no matter what. The memories he had always left in his brain since the day they met, resurfaced to the top of the line.
Flash Back~
It had just finished raining buckets of water on the small town of Konohagakure and Naruto Uzumaki, a young boy at the tender age of 5 had just finished eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that his mother had made for him for the sole purpose if Naruto was to ever have nothing to do but sit around watching the rain come down. It was his birthday and both his parents found it sad to see that Naruto's birthday had to be on a rainy one and as the result of the rain, the common neighborhood children were not allowed to go out in the rain for fear of getting their good suits and dresses dirty and soaked. In a rage of hearing such a strange comment coming from the other parents, Naruto's mother began to put away the decorations but left the birthday cake out on the table for them to eat later on. She was just about to get the streamers down when their doorbell began to ring through out the house.
Leaving the decorations for the moment, Kushina left to get the door, leaving Naruto alone with the cake in the kitchen sitting on the table. Hoping she could trust her son with the only cake she had finally made for this very day, she rushed for the door. Naruto's father had been away for a business trip but had already gotten Naruto his gifts for the days that he would be away.
Naruto was about to dig a finger into the chocolate cake until a boy his own age came in with a bored look on his face. Naruto's mother finally walked in behind the young boy and placed both her hands on his shoulders, introducing the two of them.
"Naruto, this is Shikamaru Nara. His parents just moved in a week ago and he is the same age as you!
Shikamaru, this is Naruto and I hope you two can get along well! Ok?" Kushina smiled and showed Shikamaru to a seat at the table.
Naruto, who had been gleaming with joy and happiness since Shikamaru's arrival, was about to dig into the cake with both his hands until his mother slapped his hands away, giving him a scorning look. Shikamaru had no choice but to laugh at his new friend as he watched the two of them get along well unlike him and his own mother. Just thinking about her made his skin crawl. Her lectures had always haunted him since he could remember them and his father had not been of much help.
"Mind your manners, Naruto! Guests are allowed the first piece." But the young boy did not yell back or throw a tantrum like some of the other kids that Shikamaru knew, instead Naruto merely scratched the back of his head and laughed innocently while his mother sliced a piece of the chocolate cake and placed it on Shikamaru's plate.
Forgetting the cake for a moment, Naruto looked up at his mother hopefully and asked a simple question. "Is uncle Yamato coming over too?" Naruto's mother looked sad by the question but replied with a smile on her face.
"I'm sorry, Naruto, your uncle's awfully busy like your father and he wasn't able to make it for the plane today. But he says he'll be coming by next week, Ok?" Shikamaru was sure that Naruto would at least be sad that the only people to celebrate his birthday were down to two and on such short notice.
But the boy was not sad at all; again, Naruto had surprised him and his mother by putting up a brave face and began digging in to the piece of cake. Shikamaru began to feel sorry for the boy but what could a five year old do for another five year old but to cheer him on in secret in hopes that some other family member would be able to join this small gathering.
Kushina was also surprised at how brave her son was being and wondered if it ran in the family. And if it did, she wasn't sure how she would be able to handle the next time around.
It was heart braking watching your son holding in all his feelings and putting on such a strong face for being in the presence of others. She took a bite out of the piece of cake and smiled at the two boys just as the door rang for a second time. Kushina placed her fork down and got up from the table.
Just as she was about to place her hand on the door knob, the door itself, flung open and before Naruto or Shikamaru knew what was going on, Naruto's mother was shot in the chest by a bullet. Men with black suits, gloves and shoes and black glasses, barged their way in leaving the door wide open for any passersby to see. Kushina's words were muffled but Shikamaru could understand better than anyone that what was happening was not your normal, typical evening of a rainy day.
Shikamaru, having been born in a family of well protected studies, knew in case of emergencies to get some place safe before the worst could ever happen. He put his fork down and left the table, grabbing onto Naruto's hand, leading them both away from the array of bullets that were tearing up the decorations and presents that had been lying in a pile near the sitting area.
'You guys have a basement or at least another door?' No answer. Naruto was in complete shock of the entire situation as he should be but Shikamaru was finding a hard time trying to think of something wile trying to find a way out of there.
There was a pause in the men and the shooting that was going on in the living room and Shikamaru knew it would cost them their lives if they made any sort of sound now. He led Naruto to the lowest part of the house and tried his best to comfort him while at the same time, try to keep quiet.
The men up stairs should have known by now that there were kids previously in the kitchen as there was now plenty of evidence that their presence was obvious. Three plates meant three people had been there aside from the pulled out chairs. But given the current situation, Naruto's parents looked like a rich couple so if there was anything fishy going on in this house hold, Shikamaru was sure that the cops would know by now because of the current trinket that his father had been working on since he was a baby. An alarm that was invisible to the intruder yet known to the wearer of the alarm.
In the form of a necklace, the alarm was capable of calling for help from the police. In Naruto's mother's case, she had just the right amount of time to dial the 911 number in short codes. Feeling that Naruto's father must have had business with his family at some point, Shikamaru felt a distinct emotion of helping the boy and himself out of this mess.
End Flash back
Tears swelled up in the corners of Naruto's eyes as he looked at the only friend he had since he was five and the only one to have witnessed his mother's death. Shikamaru was shocked to see the ever so happy blonde haired boy, crying like a little girl in plain view as they stood in the halls of their school.
"N-Naruto? Are you, Ok?" The said boy shook his head forcibly and tried to rid his eyes of the water that had been running from the corners, causing redness in his eyes to occur.
Naruto used the sleeve of his uniform to wipe the tears away. His knees buckled under the pressure of standing so long on his feet in one place and the sudden remembrance of his mother's death sent him crashing to the tiled hallway floor. Shikamaru was taken by surprise at the sudden change in emotions that he had seen in the same day. Now he was feeling really guilty about brushing Naruto off as a pest. All the kid wanted was to make friends with him and Choji and the only thing he left the new kid with was a few glares and a couple of 'you're annoying' sentences for Naruto to remember him by.
To think such a kid with a high status was having such a hard time for his first day, Shikamaru was seeing another side of the new kid that he now vowed he never wanted to see again. But putting his knightly fashion aside, there was still the matter of Naruto's current injuries that were still plainly visible.
Lifting up one of Naruto's arms, he draped the arm around his shoulder and helped Naruto off the floor and walked him the rest of the way to the infirmary. Glad to see that doctor Kabuto was in working instead of the strange doctor, who had usually occupied the infirmary, was now apparently off sick for the week. Doctor Kabuto glanced up from his studies and reading material and watched as Shikamaru limped along side Naruto and let the boy down on one of the beds.
"Ah, Mr. Nara, what seems to be the trouble with young Naruto, hmm?" The young doctor took a look at the bruise on the corner of Naruto's eye and whistled at the sight of the darkening blue bruise.
"Not that I care or anything, but did class already start?" The young doctor took a few swabs of cotton from his desk and answered Shikamaru's question with the simplicity of nodding his head.
Seeing as the boy was in good hands for now, Shikamaru retreated from the room and left for his next class. Naruto on the other hand, felt a little isolated from the real world after having remembered his long time friend and the death of his mother, he was beginning to wonder if there was really anybody who really wanted him at all. Feeling helpless without his best friend around, he let the tears fall without shame.
"It must be tough having a rich family, especially it being your first day here and all." Kabuto's words did not seem to reach the boy's ears.
Looking back at the young boy now, he could see that Naruto was remembering something and recalling something in his brain over and over again. Without the use of words, Kabuto could see what was going on in a person's mind. It was a rare use of skill having it being wasted away on teenagers but if it were to at least teach them something at the same time, Kabuto wasn't seeing it as wasting his skills.
"Try not to think so hard, Naruto. I'll see what I can do about that bruise for now, just sit back and let me heal you." Using the cotton swabs, Kabuto patted them against the corner of Naruto's eye with every gentle touch.
A/n: So tired! So many things happening at once! My computer is still down in the dumps but this does not stop me! Been drawing a bit too much, but hopefully it will come out ok for me in the end. Staying up all night is too much! D: Anyway, comment or ask a question, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can! Thank you for reading and please review on this chapter!