Warnings: Cannon is out of order and Shikamaru is a girl called Shikamori

Bento Bonding

The familiar twelve o'clock bell sounded throughout the classroom, alerting it was time for lunch. Snapping her head up from her desk where she had been sleeping, disturbed by the loud bell, Shikamori woke from her morning nap. Luckily for her, Iruka sensei had not noticed her snoozing through his riveting side show lecture on the proper uses of a kunai knife. After stretching and making sure no drool was present on her face, she reached next to her seat to grab her lunch box. She soothed out her black pleaded skirt and double-checked to make sure her Nara clan jacket was buttoned correctly. She pulled down her fishnet undershirt that had road up her back from sleeping and adjusted her black spandex shorts, fixing her fishnet footless tights. She then followed a group of gossiping girls, gushing about a certain black haired boy, outside to eat lunch.

She searched the premise, looking for a good spot to sit, preferably in the shade and away from anyone else. Unluckily for her, her lunch buddy Choji was in the hospital again for over dosing on to much barbeque, so she had nobody to sit with. It was no real loss; Choji did most of the talking and always bugged her if she was going to finish her rice balls. She would never admit it aloud, but Shikamori enjoyed the company. She found eating alone to be always awkward and troublesome. Everybody always judged the kids eating alone and looked at them with distain, as if something was horribly wrong with them. The biggest example of this was the class outcast, Naruto. Nobody wanted to sit with him and he usually spent the period alone while he tried to get everyone's attention by either falling out of trees or unsuccessfully sneak attacking suspecting classmates. Eating lunch alone pretty much certified that person as a friendless freak and in Naruto's case, he was the most friendless freak of them all. The only exception was Uchiha Saskue, but that was only because he unwillingly had the attention of almost every girl in the class.

She looked across the way to see Ino and Sakrua pretending to eat a few feet away from Saskue. The same boy the girls she followed out where gushing about. Ino and Sakrua gave each other dirty looks when one stared at him for to long. She found herself rolling her eyes at their behavior. She personally didn't get anyone's obsession with the lone surviving Uchiha member. The math on him didn't add up. According to her calculations, he was nothing special, not to obsession standards at least. Sure, he was extremely intelligent, had a tragic past, liked being alone, was mysterious, had a nice face, and was always very quite. However, he was nothing to end friendships over, let alone be totally obsessed with. In fact, she found him to be completely arrogant and cold. He acted like he was better then everyone, which he technically was seeing that he was head of their class, but Shika thought it wouldn't kill him to act more humble about it. Plus, his brother snapped and wiped out his entire clan without a shed of emotion or remorse before abandoning the village, what's to not think he also harbored the same potential? Shika's father always went on about how the silent and brooding types where never one to get to involved with, because one day they just could snap and for once she took her mothers advice to stay away from him.

She let out a dejected sigh at Ino and Sakrua, shaking her head at their inability to get along anymore over a stupid boy. Back when they where little, the three of them use to be the best of friends. Of course, that was back before puberty hit and boys still had cooties. Back when they played clapping games at sleepovers, not plastic surgeon that had Shika explaining to her mother why she had black permanent marker circles on her chest and hips from Ino. She'd have to explain that Saskue kun would not like a flat chested girl with poor posture, no hips, and short hair always kept in a tight ponytail that made her head resemble a pineapple. Poor Sakura would get the worst of it though, going home with marker all over her forehead, arms, and legs. She had "Billboard Brow" written across her forehead for an entire week once. When the two declared civil war over Saskue, Shika too fell out with both of them. She found it to be too much effort having to be friends with one or the other, so she chose none and befriended Choji instead. The decision prompted Ino to spread a nasty rumor that Shika was dating Choji and the cold shoulder from Sakura, but it was no big deal.

Averting her eyes from them, Shika continued to look for a spot to sit. Either the Saskue lover's fan club or loud, annoying boys took all the good ones. The only spot left was next to the class outcast, Naruto, but beggars could not be choosers. Begrudgingly, Shika made her way over to the obnoxious blonde, stopping before she sat down.

"Mind if I sit here?" She asked, trying not to look directly at the bane of her existence. It was because of him that she missed her afternoon nap yesterday. He decided it would be fun to paint the hokage statues during lunch and as punishment, Iruka sensei made them all practice transformation.

He looked up at her with a stare that suggested he was surprised she was even addressing him. "No, go ahead."

She nodded, sitting down, popping open her lunch box. As she was about to dig in, she noticed Naruto was empty handed. She scoffed at him. "You already ate your whole lunch? You're worse then Choji."

Naruto shook his head no. "I don't know how to make rice balls or curry and bento boxes are really expensive to buy. I'm not hungry anyway."

Naruto's gurgling stomach said otherwise. He gripped his abdomen and laughed nervously. Shika eyed him suspiciously before extending her lunch box to him.

"Really, I'm not hungry." Naruto said again as his stomach continued to growl. "You eat your lunch. I don't need your charity. Why are you even talking to me anyway?"

Shikamori shook her head in disdain. "It's not an act of charity, you dolt. And I'm talking to you because this is the only spot left."

Naruto shook his head no. "I'm not hungry and talking to me will most likely get you in trouble."

Shika rolled her eyes, sighing in frustration. "You're so troublesome. Look, my mother makes extra rice balls for Choji and he isn't here today, so have some. Besides, I can't eat all of this by myself and listening to your stomach growl all of lunch will just get annoying."

Slightly taken aback by her straightforwardness, Naruto grabbed three rice balls from Shika's box.

"You really don't have to be nice to me." Naruto said as he chewed. "It's no big deal for me to go without meals. I do it all the time. Why do you care anyway?"

Shika shrugged, leaning against a tree to watch the clouds as she ate what she wanted of her lunch, not interested in what the blonde had to say anymore. "Choji eats most of my lunch, so I'm use to sharing. I'm not making the extra rice balls, so it's no skin off my back. And I don't care, but your stomach would get annoying after while. It's no big deal."

Naruto nodded, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "But, uh, thanks, though."

She waved her hand at him in a lazily fashion, shutting her eyes. "You can pay me back by not being a complete fool in class until after the graduation exam. Resting is important for building up chakra and I like my morning and afternoon naps to not be disturbed. I'd like to actually pass this year. Have to retest would be troublesome and it's the first year my grades allow me to test." She snapped her eyes open as a grin appeared on her face. "Then again, I should probably thank you for that, too. All that extra credit Iruka sensei made us do because of your ineptness really helped boost my grade."

"Why don't I just buy you a bowl of ramen tonight and we'll call it even?" Naruto asked, still chewing his last rice ball, slightly annoyed the conversation had moved to his classroom behavior.

Shika was caught off guard by the invitation. "You want to buy me ramen?" She pointed to herself for emphasis. "This isn't some sick ploy to get a girlfriend, is it? Because I have you know I have no interest in boys, especially you."

Naruto shook his head, brushing the rice crumbs off his hands on his bright orange pants. "Nope, we won't even call it a date. In fact, you can ignore me the entire time, I won't care."

Shikamori shrugged in reply. "I guess I can go for some ramen. It'll have to be after I visit Choji at the hospital, though. And it'll have to be one quick bowl. My mother hates it when I so much as look at a candy store, having a second dinner would probably make her head spin."

"Don't worry, it'll be our little secret." He said as the bell sounded, calling everyone back to class.

Shikamori sighed, getting to her feet. The bell had to ring right when she was getting comfortable.

Naruto caught her arm before she walked away, causing her to jump at the touch, letting out a surprised yelp. She turned to see him smiling in his normal goofy fashion.

"Thanks again for the rice balls."

Shika felt her face heat up slightly, letting out a gasp as she tried to hide her blush with her free hand. His arm on hers wasn't helping her cause and the strange sensation of wanting to keep his hand there sent red flags waving in her head. She had to get him off of her and fast, before anyone saw them and made up rumors. Or worse, told her parents.

"Uh, it's no problem, really." She laughed sheepishly, yanking her arm out of his grip. She cleared her throat, trying to ignore the tingling feeling on her arm where his hand was. "We should be getting back to class."

He nodded, walking past her, waving as he went. "I'll see you tonight."

"Right, see you tonight." She nodded, scowling at how much that sounded like a date as she followed after him.

The End

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