Shikamaru preferred it when they stayed at Chouji's house, and he liked being left alone in the Nara fields most of all.
Yamanaka Yukako had been apprehensive about looking after the second Nara child, but years of friendship with the other woman had lead her to trust Yoshino's judgement, and Rumiko-chan seemed enamored of her younger brother. He couldn't be that bad. She'd quickly found that the boy was much easier to look after than her own Ino-chan, who was three months older and remained much more restless than Shikamaru throughout their childhood.
Indeed, Shikamaru looked normal enough. The three parallel lines that run from his cheeks to the edge of his jaw were the only features that let on there was anything strange about him, and could easily be taken as a clan marker. Unless you knew the Nara had no such defining feature and his maternal family were non-shinobi, the whisker-like lines were innocuous. And the fact the boy's dark brown eyes shone maroon-red in direct sunlight was hardly enough to give anything away, as unnerving as it was.
This relative normality didn't stop any of Shikamaru's primary carers noticing seeming oddities, but it did stop them being commented on. He slept more than was at all usual, and remained still and placid. That was a Nara thing. He learnt to crawl and was contented with that for a long time, only reluctantly mastering the skill of walking. He didn't speak for a long time, but became quiet and alert to sound in a very ninja-like way, and occasionally chased stray squirrels with surprising proficiency. As he grew up, laziness became more and more apparent in his mannerisms, but occasionally a vulpine grace would shine through the haze of languor.
On whole, though, he was just a boy. The Yamanaka family learnt that through continued exposure to him, the Akimichi clan – the better part of which lived outside of Konoha and ran a gargantuan restaurant - had never been exposed to rumours and knew none of the specifics of the events on Shikamaru's birthday. He grew up between his parents and the familiarity of these childhood friends and their families - normal, strict, kind, and welcoming.
It had been a year and a half after the Kyuubi's attack when Akimichi Chouza's wife, who had been estranged from him, died and left a young child in his care. He awkwardly asked Yukako if she could look after his son while he and his extended family went down to Wave Country for the week. The two women met the third member of the reborn Ino-Shika-Cho trinity.
The three children quickly established the habits that would define them early in their lives. Shikamaru would happily sleep wherever he was put, Ino would screech and rouse him, and Chouji tried to moderate the dominating girl's influence. The dynamic between the three of them was the final proof of Shikamaru's normality.
Shikamaru's eyelids twitched as Ino slowly bought the brush up above his face.
Chouji was trying to reach the chips the girl had put indignantly put away on top of her mom's wardrobe (because she'll notice if you leave crumbs over the floor, idiot!), but he wasn't limber enough to balance on the chair arms and reach across the gap. He was trying pretty hard, though, so he wouldn't notice what she was doing to Shikamaru soon enough to wake him up and stop her like the goody-two-shoes he was.
The nail varnish was pink, Ino's favorite colour. She'd already painted her own nails with it, and they looked pretty even if they were a little smudged (and maybe her fingers were too, but she still looked grown-up). She'd tried doing her lips, too, but maybe her mom used something different for that because the stuff tasted nasty and wasn't the right colour anyway. Still, the funny stripes on her lazy friend's face would look much better pink.
The brush descended.
As she'd just finished one side, Chouji crashed to the floor. Shikamaru shifted at the sound and turned his head, then at hearing crying rolled over and moved to his friends' side. He didn't even notice Ino hiding her hands behind her back, and the girl hastily hid the evidence before moving over to Chouji, worried.
The kids apologised tearfully, then, in the manner of all children, complained about having to sort out the old clothes that had been in the wardrobe. But after they carried the broken nick-nacks and mouldy clothing over to the second-hand shop without even pestering her for money to go to the sweet shop en route, Yukako couldn't stay angry at them. Particularly since Shikamaru had made the trip with vividly pink gloss painted over the right of his face, laminating his whiskers in a sickly magenta.
By the time they began to study at the ninja academy, he had a good idea that something was different about him, and that the adults of Konoha disliked him for it. But he'd never been outspokenly vocal, and he'd realised early on that inquiring about it would not make life any easier or more pleasant.
On his first day at the academy, even the boisterous Ino had been a little nervous, hanging back with Chouji and Shikamaru and demanding reassurance about her looks before striding determinedly towards a flock of girls.
The two males had headed directly into seats at the back of the class, neither wanting to draw attention from the groups of boys congregating around the scowling Uchiha boy or the two cackling kids who were rigging a bucket full of water above the door (the dog yipping and running circles around their feet was impeding their progress, and Shikamaru suspected they'd still be at it by the time the teacher arrived.)
Later, the two were approached by the blond member of the trap-making duo, who had apparently fallen out with the Inuzuka after the dog incriminated his master and the other prankster had laughed instead of coming forwards too. They learned that the exuberant Kazama Naruto was a ramen fan, disliked 'jerks with blood-line limits', and people who didn't see others as anything other than their fathers son. Shikamaru won eternal favour with Naruto for asking if his father was someone famous, and was informed later by Chouji that they had just met the son of the late Yondaime Hokage.
When Ino asked her mother if she could go back with Hana-chan after school, neither of the two boys commented. But the pair of them found themselves at a loss when they wanted something to do. Chouji commented morosely that it just wasn't the same, eating more crisps than Ino would have condoned.
When the new Ino-Shika-Cho trio reached seven, Ino's mother came to the Nara household on a rare social call. The conversation turned to parenting – her sister had come to visit and show off her son, thereby winning both Ino's enmity and her mother's; Shikamaru, paused on the stairs as it had occurred to him that entering the room would get him fussed over by the two matrons, overheard:
"Just Ino's far too much trouble for me, deary – little she and that Hana-chan tear up my living-room something terrible, and Satoshi-kun's a dear but – God! I'm so glad ours are out of the crying stage, aren't you?
"Then again, your calm Nara kiddies - I almost miss Shikamaru-chan," - said child cringed at the endearment, still hovering on the staircase - "such a quiet boy, no trouble at all... Not planning on having another kid, are you?"
"I couldn't" Yoshino said, and the sudden dejection in her voice made Shikamaru shiver "Not after-..."
Her son crept back upstairs, deeply unnerved.
At ten, he had perfected the art of cushioning his head in his arms and dozing. Umino Iruka had been frustrated to learn that the seemingly sleeping student had an unreasonable talent for finding answers to questions he had apparently paid no attention to, but his prejudice against the boy changed quickly to vague aggravation with a troublesome student.
(By calling the 'troublesome student' such, he provided Shikamaru with a term that would serve him well in his efforts to avoid work. Shikamaru was grateful, and used the word as often as he could.)
School wasn't something Shikamaru minded, as a rule. He avoided getting deep into trouble, and generally any attention drawn to him in class was easily forgotten. Usually, it was Ino's fault.
Umino Iruka thumbed through the work that had been handed in late. Three students in a class of thirty – 10 percent - had failed to complete the one short question they'd been asked to finish, and one hadn't done it at all!
And Yamanaka Ino – he looked at her answer, and sighed. Not again...
'Which is more difficult: using Henge no Jutsu or using the same amount of chakra to throw a shuriken. Why?
'Henge is more trublesome, to do henge you have to focus and mentaly control the chakra. Shuriken throwing is made automattic by practise.'
"Ino."
Umino Iruka continued the futile struggle to change their delinquent ways, "I really would prefer it if your answers were your own...
Another average day for the trio. Slowly but surely, they grew up.