A/N: Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while guys its just that I've been really busy lately. That was a lie just then, I haven't necessarily been busy but more of I've just been lazy and I didn't have any internet. So, for the next thirty days I promise to devote myself to updating some of the stories that I promised you guys. So, I would like to thank everyone for waiting and being patient with me.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I just own Yoko, her family, and some of the plot.
"We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over."
- Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451)
Namie Tadashi stared at the parchment in her hand with a look of exuberance that had been sparked rapt in the depths of her chartreuse eyes as she patted the messenger hawk on its head for bringing her pleasant news. She had just received a letter from Yoshino Nara, an old friend with who she was still well acquainted with, so much so that the two of them could be considered best friends. She released a weak cough as she continued to read. The head Nara's wife had sent her a reply to her earlier invitation. Both Namie and Yoshino were planning a play date for their young children who were almost equal in age. They thought it would do wonders for their children to get along, and become friends like to two of them had been for many years. Namie smiled to herself as she remembered when she first met Yoshino, thinking back then that the two of them were just too different to become anything more than strangers. Oh, how wrong she had been. But, then again she had been very young then and thought that she knew everything, making her both reckless and stupid. Time, however, was an excellent teacher and had beaten experience and knowledge into her narrow mindset and made her see that anyone and everyone of different environments, ideology, and heritage could be potential friends.
Folding the parchment in half and putting it into the pocket of her standard Konoha Jonin navy capris, as she pulled out another sheet of paper from the draw of the desk next to the window and began to scribble down a reply, including details of when her and her daughter Yoko would arrive at the Nara compound for the play date. Signing her name at the bottom of the parchment, she began to roll it up and placed it into the small compartment attached to the leg of the messenger hawk. Giving the hawk one last pat on its head before the hawk took flight for the Nara compound. Namie glanced at the clock above the dinning table as she began packing a knapsack with juices and small snacks, when young Yoko came bounding into the house covered in dirt, elbows and knees bruised with small cuts. "Training again, Yoko?" she asked her daughter with a small smile on her face as she releasing another weak cough. Namie, despite smiling did not like that Yoko was training to become a ninja. But, her husband, Yoko's father, had been very insistent that their daughter become one, saying that it would help Yoko into the transition of becoming officially apart of Konohagakure and the Tadashi clan. This, though still didn't settle well with her because she knew that her daughter not only inherited her looks but also her clans cursed kekkei genkai, others would say that Namie was too overly cautious but that wasn't true, it was her mothers intuition. And her intuition told her that Yoko had been cursed with a short life if she wasn't careful with the Iyashino clans sacred ability to heal. Yoko shook her head and replied with a smile on her face "I fell down," Namie shook her head in a disapproving manner but laughed regardlessly at her daughters enthusiasm.
Yoko stared at her frail mother and delighted in her laughter, her falling down hadn't necessarily been the whole truth, she did fall down, but gravity had nothing to do with it. No, she had been pushed down by someone when she was leaving the academy. She had a pretty good idea of who it was but, her mother didn't need to know about that. Yoko watched her mother in small childlike curiosity while Namie unbeknownst of her daughters stare continued to fill the small knapsack with perishable items. "Mom?" Yoko called out to her mother. Namie glanced up from what she was doing to regard her daughter "Yes, Yoko what is it?" she asked taking in her daughters look of curiosity and smiling inwardly to herself, somehow being reminded of herself when she was Yoko's age watching her parents fulfill the same mundane tasks. "What are you doing?" she asked her mother as she peered into the knapsack to hesitantly eye its contents. "Getting you ready," Namie told her daughter. "Ready for what?" she couldn't be sure but she thought she heard a bit of suspicion in Yoko's tone of voice. Namie bit the inside of her cheek and wouldn't meet her daughters chartreuse eyes that mirrored her own, as she played in her head the different scenarios that could manifest from her and Yoshino's actions. Neither of them had informed their children of their plans to make the two children friends. They were a bit worried because both of their children were a bit withdrawn from social activities that involved other children.
Namie remembered Yoshino saying that her son Shikamaru had inherited some of his father's traits and was too lazy to put the effort into socializing with the other children, how had she said it, Shikamaru had described it as 'too troublesome' and that it was a 'drag'. Yoko, on the other hand did not have such problems, it was more of her mother was not apart of the Tadashi clan, not apart of Konohagakure, nor was she apart of the land of fire. When she first came to live here many people thought that she was a spy and venders wouldn't sell to her, she came from a broken nomadic clan: the Iyashino's who resided in the land of waves and had a kekkei genkai that was slowly eating away at her life span, Eiji, her husband who was rightfully a Tadashi, clan would not acknowledge their marriage and considered Yoko and Namie herself not apart of the family, and went far enough to say that Yoko's birth had diluted their blood. To Namie it seemed that her whole existence made Yoko's life even harder, but neither Yoshino nor Eiji would let her think of herself as nothing more than a nuisance.
"Mom?" Yoko called, her mother hadn't answered her yet and was far into the process of retreating into herself. Something she only did when Yoko asked a too private question about her mothers kekkei genkai or what became of the Iyashino clan after the third shinobi war, fearing that she had perhaps prodded too far she mental reprimanded herself as she tried to formulate an apology to her mother. Yoko's voice cut through Namie's somber thoughts like a hot white knife as she finally came too and stared at her daughters worried open expression. "For your play date," Namie told her as she closed the knapsack and carefully placed it onto her shoulders. "My play date?" Yoko asked incredulously as she glanced at her mother with a wary expression on her young face. Sometimes though Namie would take pause when he daughter made those types of expressions because Yoko would appear as if she possessed a face that understood and knew the hardships of life; the face of an adult, and Namie would constantly have to reminder herself that her daughter was only seven years old. "With who?" she questioned with a frown. Hopefully that would change if her daughter were to make a friend of two. Namie smiled as she opened the front door to their family apartment and monitored for Yoko to follow her "You'll see," was her only reply for her daughter as she locked the door behind her, and started down the stairs. Yoko's frown only deepened as she began to mutter under her breath about her mothers meddlesome ways as she followed after her mother neither liking her singsong response or the sly smile that graced her delicate pink lips.
"Shikamaru!" Yoshino Nara, his mother, called from the window for the fifth time this afternoon for her son to come down from the roof. Releasing an exasperated sigh as he watched a solitary cloud go by, he sat up and proceeded to come down from the roof. Sliding the door open that lead into the main house, he was greeted by his mother with an impatient scowl on her face as she watched her son lazily shove his hands into the pockets of his navy blue khakis before replying in boredom "What is it Ma?" he couldn't figure out what was so important that she kept calling his name. Hopefully it wasn't anything he would consider too troublesome.
Yoshino shook her head in disbelief, she swore it was like Shikaku had spit their son out, the two of them were just alike. Sometimes she couldn't believe it, but then Shikamaru would retreat into himself and go about his way withdrawn and comfortable with himself just like his father. Exactly like his father. Perhaps with her and Namie's meddling that would change. Yoshino huffed as her six year old son regarded her with little interest "Shikamaru, we've already been over this! Remember this morning when I was doing laundry I told you that we we're having guest over this afternoon," she reprimanded him. "Yeah, but I don't understand what's so important about them that I have to be here to greet them?" Shikamaru asked her, one of his ebony eyebrows raised skeptically towards her. Rubbing her forehead with the tips of her fingers as she suddenly felt very silly for even attempting to scold her son for acting like his father, which he couldn't help since it was in his nature not to understand the importance of small everyday things. "Just make sure to stay in the house I don't know when they will be arriving. You an go wait in your room or you can stay right where you are. Just don't go far, okay?" she asked her son. Shikamaru just nodded his head in affirmation as he watched his mother shake her head and walk away hearing her muttering under her breath that this was somehow his fathers fault.
Sitting down on the step that lead into the dinning room of the main house as he stared at the front door; choosing to stay where he was instead of going to his room, which would be too troublesome he had decided earlier since it would involve to much physical movement on his part. He released a sigh, this situation was already becoming more troublesome than it had to be. Right about now he would be laying out on the roof flat on his back watching the clouds go by if it weren't for the fact that they were due to have guest any moment now.
Speaking of any moment now.
There was a knock on the door before it slide open to reveal a woman about his mother's age, with chartreuse eyes and ebony hair darker than his own pulled into a ponytail, she had pale skin which was an oddity if you lived in Konoha; the constant expose to the sun would give anyone a light tan, not as bad as living in Suna though since it was the desert and there the exposure of the sun would give you sunburn if you came outside without any protection, be it sunscreen or extra layers of clothes to cover up any exposed skin, but if you got a closer look at her one would be able to conclude that it was a sickly pale white instead of having no exposure to sunlight. She was carrying a small gray knapsack over her shoulders, and shifted on her feet as if to lessen the weight of its contents. The woman glanced at him releasing a weak cough and giving him a smile "Hi, you must be Yoshino and Shikaku's son Shikamaru," she shifted again before continuing "I'm Namie Tadashi, I don't know if your mom told you or not that we were coming for a visit today, where is she?" she asked him, releasing another cough. Shikamaru eyed her for another moment trying to analyze her character a bit further.
Besides her appearance and the small but suspicious gray knapsack he couldn't find anything to further his observation of her. Giving up, he just simply nodded before replying "She told me this morning, who is we?" he questioned just as his mom came around the corner down the hallway. "Shikamaru, I thought I heard a knock on the door, did-" his mother stopped mid sentence releasing a excited squeal "Namie! When did you get here? Did you bring little Yoko with you?" his mother asked the woman - Namie or Mrs. Tadashi - while she took the suspicious gray knapsack from her possession. "Oh, that reminds me," Mrs. Tadashi said as she glanced behind her, stepping out the door and coming back in, albeit dragging in a young girl about his age who mirrored her appearance except for the unhealthy pale skin which was replaced with a soft tan. "Shikamaru, this is Yoko, and Yoko this is Shikamaru," Mrs. Tadashi said introducing the two of them to each other. Yoshino and Namie crossing their fingers and praying that their children would like each other watched in silence.
He stared at the young girl - Yoko - she was wearing a gray cardigan over a bleu de France colored dress that reached her knees and she was also wearing the standard navy blue shinobi sandals, she wore her ebony hair down and it reached her shoulder and was swept to the side in a waterfall braid in the back. Glancing up and staring at his mother and Mrs. Tadashi's hopeful looks he suddenly knew what this visit was all about. Shikamaru had to refrain from releasing an annoyed sigh and pinching the bridge of his nose. How troublesome.
Namie stared at the two young children and then glanced Yoshino, who was also watching the wordless exchange between their children. Reaching over and tapping Yoshino on the shoulder, physically monitoring that the two of them should leave the room and let Shikamaru and Yoko familiarize themselves with each other. Both of them taking a glance at the wordless children before walking off down the hall. Yoko watched with Shikamaru as their mother's disappeared around the corner. Shifting from foot to foot as she turned and choose to acknowledge the boy beside her. Since her mother and Shikamaru's mother both went through so much effort to get the two of them to become friends she couldn't help but think that she should at least take the chance get to know the boy next to her.
"I'm Yoko Tadashi," she said staring at him as he turned to acknowledge her presence. "Shikamaru Nara," he said putting his hands into his pockets in a languorous manner. "Do you want to shake hands?" she asked him as he stared at her with something she assumed was boredom "No," he said. Yoko couldn't help but wonder why "Why?" she questioned him "Its too troublesome," Shikamaru explained.