"There's no way!" I roared, slamming the spiky-haired, blonde boy up against the wall with my forearm. "You're lying! There's no way! No way he's dead!"
"He-is," Naruto replied in a strangled voice, "I… saw-it-myself… 'ttebayo…" Even when he was choking, he still added 'dattebayo' to the end of every sentence.
"You've gotta be lying," I pleaded, letting him drop to the floor before sinking to it myself, "You've just gotta… Shikamaru can't die… He's my best friend…" tears welled up in my eyes. Ino put her hand on my shoulder. She was crying, too.
"I'm sorry, dattebayo… If it helps, his death was pretty quick… And I killed the guy who did it." With that, he left. Ino and I cried for a long time.
"H-he can't die yet," I sobbed, "We were s-supposed to live and gr-grow up together… Our k-kids would have b-been on the same team, like us… L-like our dads…"
"I know," she whispered, "I can't believe it either…"
"He is… was… my best friend…" I said. My tears had dried up, but I was still sobbing. "He was… th-the first one of us to be chunin… and jonin…"
"Chouji," she said, hugging me, "you knew him longer than me… but… we can get through this… he wouldn't want us to…" She burst into tears again. "Oh, Chouji, he's dead!" We sat alone, shut off from the world.
The next day, Kurenai stopped by. She comforted us and told us if we needed anything, to just ask her. She said she remembered when Asuma-sensei died, Shikamaru promised to protect her child, the child who was now two years old and clinging to her leg. I said nothing as Ino thanked her and hugged her. The child came over and hugged me, emulating her. I smiled, slightly. "You'll make a great Shinobi someday," I said, hugging back, "Just like your mom and dad, and Shikamaru."
-------------------Three days later--------------------
The nice thing about my Shinobi clothes is that they can double as some really comfy pajamas. As I drifted off to sleep, I was thinking of a new mechanism for Crow-Perhaps a spring… Or a stronger poison… Belladonna? Nightshade? Before I knew it, I was dreaming of killing that Aburame punk with my great new instrument… What was it? I was getting closer… I could almost see it…
I opened my eyes to, not my ingenious new device, nor a deadly poison… Just my hood, which I had carelessly tossed on the floor before jumping into bed. I groaned in disappointment. It was just a dream. But what had woken me up?
It became extremely apparent in a second, as I heard my sister's voice coming from another room. I couldn't make out what she was saying… But she sounded pretty upset. I moved quietly through my bedroom, and opened the door a crack. The voice was clearer now. It was coming from the living room. I cautiously made my way there, and found my sister, crying, and that girl from Konoha, the blonde… what was her name? Pig. Oh yeah. That was it, Ino. She was there too, sitting on the sofa. She was crying.
" I never even told him…" Temari was saying, "I never got the chance to tell him how I feel. Felt. Feel!" Okay, I still didn't know exactly what was going on, but I knew what to do. What a brother should do when he finds his sister crying, no matter what: I hugged her. I didn't say anything, didn't ask why, I just hugged her. She cried onto my shoulder.
"Shikamaru died," Ino said, through her own tears. I wracked my brain, Shikamaru, Shikamaru… The one who beat Temari in the chunin exams five years ago. He and Ino were on the same team. If I remembered correctly, he was pretty lazy. He was pretty damn smart, too. Smarter than Temari. And…
Wait.
What Temari just said…
She liked him?!
Wait!
He was dead?!
No way. That guy was too smart to go and get himself killed. And too lazy. Too lazy to die.
That's exactly what I said. "That guy's too lazy to die," I think I sounded a little incredulous. Maybe I was. I didn't even think about it, it just slipped out. Hey, I was tired, all right?
Whatever I sounded like, it cheered them up. "That's right," Temari laughed. Ino giggled, too. Hey, whadda you know? Kankuro made a funny.
I felt like I should stay with her. And my brain was telling me to get the hell out of there and get my ass back into bed and sleep for eight or nine more hours. And routine was telling me to take a shower. Guess which one I did?
Five minutes later, as I reached for the soap, I was still thinking about that kid. Well, mostly Temari, as I didn't know the guy that well. I remember he was the only one to become chunin that first time, and the fourth one of the people who passed the second test to become jonin. Temari and I were first, of course, then that stuck-up Hyuuga kid. But still, that Shikamaru guy was good. He was a brilliant strategist. If he'd been born here, we probably would have won that idiotic battle against Konoha.
Which may or may not have been good, because the yondaime Kazekage, our father, died as part of that, and Gaara got… Better then, thanks to Uzumaki Naruto. But Shikamaru… Temari liked him. I still couldn't believe it. There must be no feeling worse than having someone you love die, without you telling them you love them. But I really wouldn't know, as nobody I love has died. Well, no. Gaara died once. I remembered how I felt when he got captured and was powerless to save him. Temari must feel pretty terrible.
And what kind of brother am I? I couldn't save Gaara, and here I was, not comforting Temari in her time of need.
I turned off the water and dried off.
Man, I think a lot in the shower.
Yep yep yep. I love those little one sentence paragraph thingies. Very dramatic. I'd say R&R but I could really care less!
-sings- Get my television fixed, sitting on my crucifix...