I don't own naruto.
I know, it came as a shock to me too.
Shikamaru is hilarious and awesome, but man was he an annoying little brat sometimes.
When she first met him, he was a child.
He may have been more intelligent than most adults and had somewhat unusual habits ("He's a fricking old man!" according to Ino), but there was no doubt that he was… innocent. Shikamaru never suffered (much), did not know loss and treated the world like a fool. In fact the only demons he had claimed to have were the fairer sex ("Why did you marry that harpy, dad? Women are so troublesome!" for some reason Shikamaru often got grounded).
He lived in a village that was prosperous, lush and peaceful. He loved the forests, the nature and the peace. Shikamaru had known in a textbook sort of way that he was very fortunate. He knew that somewhere outside of his village there were struggles, fighting and wars. He also knew that he was among the more fortunate as the heir to the Nara clan with close links to the hokage's family. But knowledge without experience is limited, experience takes effort and Shikamaru did not believe in excessive effort.
He was satisfied with just the knowledge. Shikamaru was very innocent.
He didn't stress about his future very much. Shikamaru was a little annoyed that he had no siblings to inherit the responsibilities of his father, but that was in the far and distant future and the boy couldn't imagine anyone besting his father. For now he was free.
His dreams were of long lazy days playing his games and watching unusual clouds in the blue sky.
For those who're new to this story, welcome! I hope you'll enjoy this.
For those who've read this before, just a bit of extremely late grammar correction and fixing up of the finished chapters. Nothing to go crazy over, please do carry on with your lives.