Hello everyone My pen name is usually Keikoku, but it's easier to refer to me as DNA, since my screename is DNAgurl --; This is the first fanfic I've ever written that I actually submitted and is lengthy enough to be a chapter. It'd be longer once the story picks up, I swear! -- I'm really busy lately though, so I might be a bit slow when it comes to updating, but if you all review and leave comments, I'd be very happy! Remember that reviews are my source of motivation to continue XD

Note: I don't own Naruto or any of the character, unfortunately, because they belong to Kishimoto-sama :D Oh, what I would do with them if I owned the characters….

The Cost to be Together

Chapter 1: Peace for a Change

Shikamaru walked slowly down the long path through the forest. He was exhausted from his mission, and he looked forward to a nice, long nap in the hills, and watching the clouds float gently by. As he came closer and closer to his village, he began to hear sounds floating from beyond the gates and down the walkway. Sounds of children playing, the shopkeepers down in the markets call out bargains. He began to smell the scent of fried dumplings, and the warm aroma of newly brewed tea. He had not been back to the village for many days, and now is glad to see it as he left it.

As he continued down the path, he called out to some of his friends as he passed by them. It was sort of an unplanned holiday today. Before he set off, Tsunade-sama told him that he'd be handling the last A-ranked mission of the week. The annual meeting of the Kages from all villages was coming up, and thus there was a cessation in activities among the 5 great nations. Genins would continue with their D-ranked missions, for those were trivial, but the chunnin and jounins could now take a long awaited rest during this period of peace.

He shouted out to Ino, who was putting out flowers from the inside of her shop, and also to Chouji, who, to no one's surprise, was eating from his lunch box on a bench. His whole team's parents were all attempting to fix the roof the flower shop, which had smashed a few weeks ago when Sakura was chasing after Naruto for doing something perverted again. As he passed by Ichiraku's ramen shop, he spotted Naruto with Kakashi and Iruka-sensei.

Shikamaru bought dango from a nearby stall, and began eating under a tree. Life was so peaceful at this moment, yet he had an uneasy feeling. Having an IQ of over 200, his intuition was based more on facts than feelings, and thus it was unsafe to simply dismiss his concerns. He got up, brushing off the dirt from his pants, and headed off towards the hokage's building.

Tsunade wasn't there, but Shizune said that she would be back in a few hours.

"Meanwhile, could you please fetch some herbs from your family's forest?" Shizune asked him as he left. "Tsunade-sama needs to create an antidote to a new kind of poison from an herb we found in the garden. It's not serious, but it seems that Kiba accidentally came in contact with it, and well...he came down with these large purple and red spots on his face that doesn't seem to do anything, but yet we can't get it off, so we're afraid that there might be some sort of delay reaction in that poison..."

"Sure," he said, and left for the forest.

On the way to the forest, he passed by Hinata, Kiba, and Shino. (He noticed that had purposely worn a jacket with a thick hood to cover his face, but decided to pretend that wearing such a thick winter jacket was normal, and that Kiba had nothing to hide.) They, too, were relaxed, and were walking the gigantic Akamaru down the street. As he walked closer to the edge of his family's property, he tilted his head towards the sun, and while the sun's warm rays bathed his face, he can't help but notice that in the far, far distance, there were looming storm clouds. The wind was picking up ever so slightly, but being one who used to spend long hours lying down and simply observing the clouds and nature; he noticed these small details the nature gave off. There is going to be a large storm, and it is going to hit soon.

He sighed, for it had been such as lovely day, and he just got home. "How troublesome..."

I'm sorry that the first chapter was so short, but it was kind of like a little introduction, so I promise that I'd write longer next time. :) I'm really busy lately, so don't expect a new chapter until probably next weekend, unfortunately :( Oh, and please do correct me if I ever make any mistakes in my fanfics, because I usually write late night, so my brain doesn't always work properly