Chapter One
In times of war nothing is absolute. There is no good or bad, right or wrong. And anymore I wonder if there is any truth in the world, or is everything anyone has ever said or done a lie. If so what have I learned? That in life the only way to survive, is slaughter man or be slaughtered? At those times, that is the only thing that ever ran through our minds. My name is Shikamaru Nara; I am Thirty-one year old and a ninja survivor of the last and most deadly Shinobi war. My story, however, begins fourteen years ago.
was sitting on my front porch, when I glanced down my lane. A beautiful girl with long, wavy, golden hair was running down the street screaming my name. "Shikamaru!" She called to me from afar; her voice was soft and beautiful just like her, and carried gingerly in the air. She stopped at my steps, taking several breaths in attempt to catch her breath, giving me a huge smile she leaped forward knocking me over onto the ground. We laughed, as she lay on top of me, I took a moment to look up into her soft, green eyes. I pushed back the stray hairs that had fallen in her face, before kissing her gingerly on the lips. "You are the one." I said as I pulled away slowly, and gazed into her eyes again. "You are the one, the one I want to be with when I get old." She looked at me with bafflement, while slowly getting up. We were sitting on our knees gazing at each for what seemed like a life time. I pulled her up by the hands, "Ino Yamanka, I love you and want to be with you forever." Now, smiling she flung her arms around my neck whispering "I love you, Sikamaru Nara." We stood on my porch kissing each other with the hot summer sun beating down on our faces. We pulled away smiling at each other. Grabbing her by the hand I led her into my house.
The aroma of hamburgers was lingering in the air, as we walked through the door. "Shikato, is that you?" My mom yelled from the kitchen. "Nah ma, it's just me and Ino."
"Oh, good. You can help set the table then." We walked into the kitchen, my mom stood over the stove her auburn hair was put up, but pieces of hair went astray and were clinging to her sticky face. She stopped what she was doing and looked over at us with her large bright blue eyes. They looked tired and weary, but they stilled seemed to smile as she looked at us in the doorway. She leaned up against the counter and smiled. "Ino, would you like to join us for dinner?"
"I would love to, but my parents are expecting me home. I really only came over to say hi."
"Well, alright then. See you around, dear."
I grabbed her hand again and led her to the porch. Holding both of her hands in mine, I gave her kiss good bye. "See you later." She looked into my eyes and smiled. "I love you." She kissed me on the cheek and walked down the steps. Stopping she turned around and smiled at me before continuing on her way. I stood there for a moment taking in the neighbor hood I grew up in.
My Neighbor hood wasn't the richest neighbor hood in town, but it wasn't run down either. We lived in a cream two story house, with a decent sized front yard. We had bushes on both sides of the steps and side walk that led to the dirt road. We didn't have many neighbors. The ones we did, were kind, but lived a secluded life. I looked across the street and noticed Mr. Akimichi. He was getting his mail; he looked up and nodded to me. I returned him a nod and he turned around and began to walk up to his house. I glanced over at the Inuzuka's house. They had a star in their window. Their son, Kiba, was recruited for the war about three month's ago. I had two best friends and Kiba was one them, the other was Choji Akimichi; we grew up together and attended the same school. We would ride our bikes down to the creek and go fishing, play pranks, and just be boys. Oh God, I missed him. After a while I finally turned around and went inside.
I went through the living room and into the kitchen. My mom was still working on dinner. I walked over to our cabinets and pulled out three plates and placed them on the table. You could hear my dad's car engine turn off. I heard the screen door shut, and shoes being lazily flung across the floor. My mom wiped her hands off onto her dress and walked over to my father who was untying his tie. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek before collapsing in his red chair. He then grabbed the paper he had in his brief case and began to flip through the pages. Before finally putting the paper down, he sighed and looked through the window at the Inuzaka's house. "I can't believe we are in a war…" He muttered to himself and then finally got up to join us at dinner.
I sat down at the kitchen table as my mom brought over a pitcher of ice tea and placed it in the middle. My dad sluggishly drug his feet on the floor and lazily pulled the chair out before plopping down on it. "Rough day pa?" I asked to avoid his upcoming questions about college and my career focus. It didn't seem to work though, he was still able to weasel it into a conversation. "Same as always, as for you, what college are you thinking about?"
"I have already told you, dad,Choji and I are waiting for Kiba to come back. We were going to enroll together and graduate together."
"I have already told you; just because Kiba is fighting this war doesn't mean the world is going to put itself on hold. You can't wait around forever for him, you need to go and apply. That way you can get a decent job and raise a family on a decent income."
"Dad, you didn't go to college, and we turned out alright."
"This family could have been better.I can't afford to buy you the nice things that you want and that your friends have. Most of the time we have trouble making ends meet. You have got a brain that the good Lord had never blessed me with, and it is going to take you places if you just put it to use." He grabbed his glass of ice tea and starred at me sternly in the eyes.
I grabbed a hamburger from the plate that my mom placed in front of me. Now I was looking at my dad's hard brown eyes. They weren't nearly as soft and beautiful as my mother's. They were warning me not to be smart with him, but I ignored the warning. "Well, my brain and college will still be here when Kiba get back." Dad stood up and slammed his fist on the table and sternly spoke to me. "When are you going to start realizing, boy, the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows? Do you realize the chances that Kiba will come back and be alright? Our men are dying everyday over there boy! You got to take your head out of the clouds and face reality or I will take it out for you, you hear?" He sat down, flattened out his shirt, and began to collect his nerves. He then, took a bite out of the hamburger he had prepared. I felt as I had a huge rock was in my throat, my eyes were growing hot. Did I really hate being yelled at by my dad this much? No, it wasn't that. It was the thought of Kiba dying at there, alone, with out me to help him out. I didn't talk much for the rest of dinner. I just sat there pushing my peas back and forth on the plate, as my dad and mom discussed the war. After about fifteen minutes, I decided to stand up. I went over to my mom and thanked her for dinner by giving her a quick peck on the cheek. I then went and put my dish in the sink.
Walking over to the front door and I slowly opened it up before actually stepping out onto the porch. Without picking up my feet, I drug my scuffed and beat up white sneakers on the ground and sat down on the bench. I gazed out into the surrounding area remembering all the good times I had with Kiba as kids. I saw little fireflies flying around, blinking on and off through out the yards. When we were little Kiba, Choji and I would run around and try to catch them, pretending they were little fairies and if we caught them they would grant us a wish. Then one time Choji caught one but he accidently smashed it when he cupped it in his hands. He came over to me in tears saying, "Shikamaru, I killed it. I didn't mean to I swear, it was an accident." He then put his hands out, showing the lifeless bug on his palm. I laughed at him, forgetting how much he loved animals. He plopped his little body on the ground and put his head in his knees and began to cry even harder. Kiba then went over and grabbed a firefly that flew by and gave it to him. His face lit up just as any little kid's would. We then fell down on the ground and laughed for a while, only stopping to catch our breaths. Thinking back, we had a lot of good times.
The sun was starting to set behind the houses, and summer evening wind was beginning to set in. I stood up holding both of my arms in attempt to get warm, and walked inside. My mom and dad were sitting together on the couch listening to the popular radio show "The Aldrich Family." I smirked as I saw them sitting together and for once not worried about financial problems and the war. I quietly walked up the stairs behind and entered the hallway. Walking down the hall I passed my parents' bedroom, and my father's den. At the end of the hall was my room. It wasn't very big, but it wasn't small either. I had my bed right in front of the window, with a small bedside stand beside it. I walked over to the stand, flipped the switch for the lamp, and then grabbed The Ninja Stories. Plopping down on the bed, I let my mind wander, and I became the main character. After a few hours I finally fell asleep with the book placed open on my chest.