Troublesome Fate
By: Lone Ronin
WARNING: This story takes place between Chapters 235 and 245 of the manga (the anime is slightly different), so there will be really serious spoilers. This story also has (good) NejiShika yaoi and lots of action, humor, angst, blood and gore, so there's something for everyone and the rating will eventually go up. It will also be kind of long, and if you do get hooked, keep in mind that I take my sweet ass time in finishing what I start, just check my author page. I'm doing this because most of the NejiShika/ShikaNeji yaoi out there kind of sucks and I came up with a good story. I honestly believe that it's not only a good pairing, but feasible as well.
Disclaimer: I haven't quit my day job and I didn't profit from this, beyond my own shameless self-aggrandizing. Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sama and whatever soulless corporation is in charge of marketing and whatnot. This is a recording.
Prologue: It wasn't supposed to be like this
It wasn't supposed to be like this, I thought I had it all figured out. I just wanted to do this ninja thing well enough to get by, get paid enough to get by, get married to a woman who's neither ugly nor beautiful, and have two kids. The first would be a girl and the next would be a boy. I would retire from being a ninja after my daughter got married and my son got a job, then I would go play shogi during the boring days and live free from worldly cares. Then I would die peacefully in my sleep from old age before my wife. That's the kind of life I wanted, but it seems I've gotten myself into something even more troublesome then the fact that I graduated from the academy, passed the chuunin test, and failed my first major mission.
I fell in love with an older, beautiful, mysterious, longhaired…guy.
It wasn't supposed to be like this, I thought I had it all figured out. It's easier to go through life thinking that people and fate can't be changed, to believe that it's impossible to change your station in life. We all like to think our fate will be like a party at the end of the evening, a grand celebration of what was, is and might be in the future, but for me, my fate seemed cruel. It was easier to just believe that no matter would I did, I would never be free of the Main House, no matter how hard I trained or worked or how many people cared about me, I would never have what I truly wanted, my own life.
That was before I met him.
No, I don't mean Naruto. Naruto may have unlocked the door to my fate, but it was up to me to open it completely so I could walk through.
At first it seemed like Naruto's fate was failure. Barely graduating from the academy, terrible at ninjutsu, no bloodline abilities, just a loud and foolish dreamer. But now, he had become strong enough to beat me, able to perform jounin level jutsus, fight a demonic Gaara, then later Sasuke and survive and now planning on leaving Konoha to apprentice to one of the Sannin, perhaps he will be Hokage one day.
It was only when I cheated death, moving so the arrow missed my heart, did I completely understand what he had taught me. I may not have been able to avoid being shot by the arrow, but that didn't mean my fate was to die there. And I began to believe, maybe if Naruto could take control of his fate and pull himself not just out of the darkness but into the light, then so could I.
Author's Notes: Okay, was it just me, or was that part pure cheese? I usually prefer cheese with my macaroni or pizza instead of my stories, but don't worry, it will get better, I promise, no, in fact, I wager my entire Chobits manga series on it. It's just this first part that's written in first person, the rest will shift to third. Shikamaru's part is based on something he said during the chuunin exams, Neji's I made up.