Chapter 1
Chikyo Nara's POV
I roll over in my bed, staring at the late morning sun shining through. Groaning, I sit up stretching my arms over my head, yawning while casting the sheets off my lower half and swinging my legs over the edge of the bed. As I stand, I catch a glimpse of my dark brown hair in a tangled mess. Sighing, I toss it up into a messy bun and open my door, heading to the kitchen.
To my surprise, Shikamaru is sitting at the table, head resting on his hands, staring at nothing.
"Well, this is a surprise, you're actually up before high noon." I say teasingly.
"I could say the same for you little sister. Besides, I'm always awake before you decide to roll out of bed." Shika says in retaliation raising an eyebrow at me. I chuckle softly grabbing a box of cereal and a bowl for breakfast.
"Want some?" I ask Shikamaru gesturing to the box of cereal. He nods in agreement. I grab another bowl down and two spoons. Just as I start pouring the milk, I see a sleepy Kiba stretching, making his way to the kitchen table to take a seat next to Shika.
"Care for some cereal Kiba?" I ask as he cracks his neck.
"Uh, yeah sure, thanks Chikyo." He says mid yawn. I slide what intended to be my breakfast across the table to him, and I turn to find another bowl for myself.
"I'm honestly shocked the two of you are awake." Kiba comments taking in a huge spoonful of cereal. Shikamaru and I just laugh and eat our breakfast along with him while discussing the plans we have for the day.
"My team and I are going to practice some more today, Chikyo would you care to join us?" Shikamaru asks staring up from his bowl at me.
"You're practicing more today? Your team was out until late in the evening last night, don't you think they may need a break from that?" Kiba says with his mouth full. Shikamaru rolls his eyes lazily
"Well there's still work to be done. Some skills come with constant hard work and dedication. Ino and Choji can handle it. Chikyo?" Shikamaru looks at me more pressingly awaiting my answer. Kiba rolls his eyes in return before continuing to shovel spoonfuls into his mouth.
"Yeah, I'm sure Ino wouldn't mind seeing me today while she practices." I say slurping the last of my milk from the bowl and turning to wash it in the sink behind me.
Ino Yamanaka is my best friend here in the village and she really seems to understand the things I go through and the things I talk to her about. Not many people seem to understand this and question why we are such good friends, but honestly she's super sweet and I find her to be one of a kind, even with her spunky attitude towards things.
"Ow! What was that for?!" Kiba yelps, rubbing the back of his head as I turn around in confusion. Shikamaru is shaking his head with his brows furrowed and bent in annoyance.
"I'll be back, I'm going to take a shower." Shikamaru says standing and exiting the room. I take a look at Kiba with a curious expression on my face and Kiba just shrugs his shoulders in response. As I clean up the rest of the dishes from our breakfast, Kiba leaves the room to gather his things and find Akamaru, meaning this is my cue to get ready for the day as well.
Shikamaru's POV
As the water turns steamy, I step into the shower to hopefully wash away my annoyance at my friend Kiba. I caught his eyes wandering a little too much towards my little sister, Chikyo. I get that she's grown up and matured over the past year or so, but at least try and hide it when you're around me, that's the least you could do unless you want to get smacked upside the head. Honestly it's becoming more and more of a nuisance lately with all my friends. What a drag. After what only feels like minutes, as my mind races on the evil things I would do to anyone who even looked at my little sister wrong, the water turns cold and I force to throw those thoughts to the back of my head. I step out into the steamed bathroom and begin to get ready for the day. I step out of the bathroom after throwing my hair up and I see Kiba with Chikyo playing around with the oversized dog, Akamaru.
"I now see why you were up so early this morning Shika. Akamaru claimed your bed for himself." Kiba laughed still playing with the dog.
"Yeah, he seems to think he's still the size of the pup he used to be." I say sighing, realizing the amount of sleep definitely didn't do justice for me.
"Ready to finally go Shika?" Chikyo says to me in a cheerful tone, standing tall. "It feels like ages since I last saw Ino, we have so much to catch up on!"
"Didn't you just see her at the flower shop two days ago?" I ask her. She rolls her eyes and stomps out the front door, Kiba and Akamaru two steps behind following her out the door laughing.
A few minutes later we make it to the edge of the training grounds I was in less than half a day ago. Choji was lazily lounging in the grass hand half deep into a bag of potato chips, while Ino's face brightened at the sight of us approaching. Her hand shot up waving excitedly at us as we gathered closer to the two of them.
"Oh my gosh, I didn't know that Chikyo would be here today!" Ino exclaims to me as she wraps her arms around Chikyo and a tiny squeal of excitement escapes her mouth. If only she had this much enthusiasm while training…
"Choji…" Chikyo starts as she unwraps herself from Ino and gracefully takes the bag of potato chips out of Choji's hands, "You know potato chips aren't a healthy morning breakfast, right?"
"As a matter of fact, CHIKYO…"Choji swipes the bag back and continues, "I've already had my breakfast, this is my mid-morning snack."
Chikyo laughs whole heartedly at his response. I clear my throat gathering each of their attentions.
"Alright, we are going to continue where we left off last night…focusing our chakras." I say sternly looking around the group as their amused faces drop into a frown.
"Come on Shikamaru! Can't we learn something different? We did this ALL DAY yesterday and I'm getting bored." Ino complains
"Well if it were to be perfected, we could move on to something else…" I remark, which only ushers and groan from Ino and a deep sigh from Choji.
"Hey you guys, I believe you can do it, even be close to mastering it today if you focus and try hard!" Chikyo says putting the big, warm smile on for the two of them, while grabbing onto Ino's shoulders firmly as if she's lending them her strength for the day. I'm never sure how Chikyo's words of encouragement manage to make their attitudes do a 180 degree flip, but I'm not complaining.
"How do you do that?" I ask sitting down on a patch of soft grass next to Chikyo who has already made herself comfortable. Ino and Choji turn and start practicing, determination clearly expressed while doing so. Chikyo looks at me with a sly smirk on her face.
"You'd be surprised at what positivity can do to a person." She states matter-of-factly.
Some days I ask myself how my sister has become so wise and mature while only being a year younger than me and my friends, and even so without the skills of being a ninja like the rest of us. She sure has the personality and attitude of a well-disciplined chuunin.
"Ahem…."
I open an eye at the sound, to find Chikyo staring down at me intensely.
"What are you looking at?" I ask
"Shouldn't you be training with them? Or have you mastered this lesson already yourself?" she asks sternly. I sigh standing up. She's right unfortunately…I have much to learn too.
Chikyo's POV
I sit watching my brother and his team practice hard in the broad day light, cheering them on from the side lines. Every once in a while I catch myself staring at the clouds in a day dream state, thinking about nothing in particular, just about how beautiful the day is in the village. I do find myself too into my day dreaming state that I barely hear a group approaching.
"Hey miss, I asked you something…Hello? Anybody home?" I hear as a hand waves into my view of the clouds which snaps me back into reality.
"Naruto! Quit being so creepy!" A familiar voice speaks. It's Sakura, standing with her hands on her hips looking well past annoyed with the spikey blond, who I can only assume is Naruto Uzumaki. Behind her I see standing tall is the Copy-cat Ninja, Kakashi, looking unfazed by the situation at hand.
You see, I've met Sakura multiple times through my best friend Ino because of their love-hate relationship they've got going on. They usually resort to calling each other Forehead and Ino-pig but I just keep things simple and go with a first name basis. Kakashi I know less of but he's not a complete stranger. He's made frequent stops to our house to meet with my brother or father about things, and on occasion he's joined me and Shikamaru for walks around the village. Now Naruto, surprisingly, I've never been introduced to. He's been talked about, sure, everyone knows bout him and his Nine-tails and the gossip that goes around, but we've never actually crossed paths with each other, until now that is.
"Oh I'm sorry! What were you asking?" I say sweetly, sitting up while scratching the back of my head, slightly embarrassed being caught off-guard.
"I asked what you were staring at up there, it looked like a pretty intense stare." Naruto says looking from me up to the sky and back to me again. I laugh.
"Honestly, I was just day dreaming, lost in thought is all!" I reply sheepishly.
"Quit being such a creep Naruto." Sakura says, while smacking the back of Naruto's head.
"Is he bothering you sis?" Shikamaru chimes in from the side, as he waltzes over to us with his team in tow.
"This is your sister?!" Naruto exclaims raising his eyebrows at Shikamaru, "No wonder she was day dreaming, she's just like you Shikamaru!"
"What a drag." Shika sighs.
"Chikyo, keep away from Forehead and Naruto…they're so….weird." Ino says while locking a grip with my forearm helping me up from the ground.
"It's fine guys, really. They seem super nice." I say as Naruto speaks rather loudly at me.
"CHIKYO! That's you're name. I remember now! Believe it!" Naruto then points his index finger directly at me, and I giggle at his obnoxious epiphany.
"Again, being creepy!" Sakura says, still overly annoyed.
"Seriously, it's all okay…" I say but no one seems to actually listen to me.
"I'm sorry, this is not how I planned on introducing you." Shikamaru admits.
"How else? What do you mean by that Shika?" I ask somewhat curious at what his answer may be.
"Well, Naruto can kind of be obnoxious and…" Shika starts off.
"And what, Shikamaru?" Sakura steps in, getting on the defensive, as if she wasn't just nagging Naruto just 30 seconds ago. This seems to light a fuse everyone is connected to, and they start to bicker about it between each other, getting into each other's faces.
I glance over to Naruto who is just as confused as to how this all started, then locks eyes with m. I take one look around the group of bickering, minus Kakashi who is now taking a Make-Out book from his pocket and flipping it open, and an idea pops into my head. I smile back at Naruto as I grab his wrist, and place my index finger in front of my mouth, signing him to keep quiet. I then usher us into the tree line behind us, and as soon as we are far enough out to be unnoticed we make a run for it, deeper into the trees.
Shikamaru's POV
I start to lose my annoyance and anger at our constant bickering, which is seemingly more childish with each passing minute. I look around and notice two less bodies than there were before, and my heart immediately skips a beat and then races with anxiety.
"Where the hell did Chikyo and Naruto go?" I say looking around the group, which causes them all to go silent and look around as well.
"Oh, they're gone…" Sakura says slightly confused as well. No one seems to be on high alert like I am. Kakashi, as if on cue, clears his throat and snaps his book shut.
"As you all were going on about nothing, I believe the two of them ran off that way" He says nonchalantly and points to the large patch of trees behind us.
"And you didn't bother to let us know?" I respond with my blood beginning to boil.
I was charged with keeping an eye on Chikyo when shes out with us, and her not being in sight proves to be quite...troublesome on my part. No one here understands how much of a problem this causes me and if our mother were to find this out...I can't even begin to think of what could happen. Kakashi just shrugs in response to my anger, and that only makes me start to lose what little cool I had left. Before I actually lose it, I decide I'm going after them.
"Shikamaru," Ino starts with a soft voice "Why are you so upset?"
"Because that's my sister! She's defenseless, and could find herself in trouble here." I say coldly turning to respond to Ino. I see Sakura and Choji exchange a glance, then speaks to me.
"She's, what, 17 years old now? I think she's capable of handling her own without her brother." Choji says in a quiet tone, unsure if he's stepping on my toes with his opinion.
"Even if she is in need of someone watching over her, Naruto is plenty capable of protecting her from harm, believe it or not. I trust him with my life." Sakura says reassuringly.
Although they are both right in opinion, and it calms some of my worry and I begin to regain my composure, there's still one fact that seems to push my button and worry still lingers.
"You both have solid points, but a boy sneaking my sister away into the woods, just spells trouble." I say staring at the both of them, seeing understanding defeat across their face. So once that is settled, I turn on my heels to make my way to Naruto and Chikyo.
"If I may," Kakashi pipes up before I even get one step in, "this boy did not sneak your sister away, in fact, your sister was the one doing the sneaking all while dragging this boy with her." Finishing his statement, which causes me to sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose in annoyance. I look towards the tree line, then back at the group of chuunin and jounin, who await my final decision.