Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Loneliness.

That was Naruto's life.

Every day, people ignored his existence even when he became the most obnoxious person in the village. He had bought the most obvious outfit he could, a bright kill-me orange, and acted like a loudmouth idiot in the hope of attracting some type of attention. When that didn't work, he added pranks to complete his new personality.

It didn't help much. The only attention he received was from the large amount ninja that ended up chasing him and they didn't offer much. Rarely using his name, they tended to call him brat or you.

He hated that.

Then he met Iruka.

The caring chunin was like a small candle in Naruto's dark world; a source for encouragement and recognition. Because of Iruka's efforts, the blonde's classmates ended up using his name more than their parents or siblings.

But that soon faded. Instead of using his name to recognize him, most would use it as an insult. This forced Naruto to create a wall between himself and the rest of the village. There was only one way to truly reach him and that was through a gate that only one person had ever passed.

Until now.

Shikamaru didn't realize it, but he had somehow managed to enter Naruto's heart. Not only that, but he was the closest to the true feelings of the blond having leaped ahead of Iruka.

As graduation day approached, the lazy Nara would send smiles of encouragement towards Naruto. Those encouraged the blonde to try harder in his studies and work on completing at least two bunshin in time for the test. While it didn't really help him in either aspect, it was still worth it.

But two days before the big test, Shikamaru was absent. A flurry a thoughts filled his head that morning, most of which blamed himself for whatever reason the lazy boy was missing.

Naruto came to the conclusion that Shikamaru was avoiding him. The blond was now faced with the dilemma of how he would get a message in the most obvious way possible while still being discrete.

And so, the greatest prank in the history of pranking was born.

I have decided that I will alternate between showing interactions between Naruto and Shikamaru and Naruto's feelings about what's going on. This is different from my other stories, so if anyone has advice on how to improve my writing, I welcome it.

But on to other news: I am currently deciding whether or not to make this a yaoi or just making them really close friends. While I love the pairing, I don't want to make something that has been done before unless people think that it has the opportunity to become an amazing story through that path. I need people's honest oppinions on how they think this story will turn out for both paths. This doesn't mean I want an entire plotline, no, I want a review combining your knowledge of this writing style for the story and how similar stories turn out. I will add some twists to this so it shouldn't end up resembling most of the stories by the time it finishes, but it will be similar to some in the beginning.

I apologize for rambling on in that last paragraph and now in this one, but I tend to enjoy writing stories that people read. I am a people pleaser and I am the happiest when I write, draw, or do something that brings some joy to another's life. While I have a small fan base, I know that I have not reached my full potential in any of my stories. My writing tends to be immature and I am to picky to just pick some random beta for my stories without having the knowledge that they can help bring my stories to the next level. I acknowledge the fact that I cannot improve on my own anymore, but know I have to deal with the problem of finding that person who will be able to get my somewhat jumbled stories in line. Like I said earlier, I would greatly appreciate it if people would give me addvice on how to proceed.

Thanks
double1squad