Hello, everyone~~~ I know, I know I haven't updated this story in a LOOOONG time and I'm so sorry about that ^^" Anyway here's the next chapter of 'His Queen'!
"So we teamed up and spent hours and hours looking for you, Chouji-kun," Mika finished, handing her new friend a bag of chips from her shoulder bag. She had just finished telling him how she had stood up to Hokuto and how she and Shikamaru had decided to find him.
Chouji accepted the bag of chips and tore it open. "That's so cool." He smiled wistfully. "I wish I could be cool like that…"
Mika pouted at him disapprovingly. "Don't talk like that! You're cool in your own way, so don't compare yourself to others."
"Really?" Chouji asked confusedly.
"Yeah! I mean, if Hokuto had told me that I couldn't play with him, I woulda beat him up!" Mika yelled, pumping her fist in the air.
"Need I remind you that you almost beat him up anyway?" Shikamaru asked before taking a long drink of his juice.
Mika thought for a second and then grinned bashfully. "Guess I did, huh?"
Chouji chuckled a bit. He had to admit, he was pretty surprised that these two had taken the time to find him, cheer him up, and even encourage him. But what surprised him even more were the snacks. It was as if they knew that he loved barbeque chips…
"Want some juice, too, Chouji-kun?" Mika inquired, offering one of the two remaining fruit juice boxes to him.
Chouji looked surprised before smiling brightly and saying, "Sure."
He poked the straw through the hole and took a long slurp. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve when he was finished. He looked to his left and saw Shikamaru lying on his back. "Watcha doing, Shikamaru?"
Shikamaru looked at Chouji then back up at the sky. "Gazing at the clouds."
Chouji and Mika both exchanged a glance before looking up at the clouds and laying back too. A few seconds of silence passed before Mika giggled impishly and pointed at the clouds. "That cloud looks like a pot sticker that someone stepped on."
Both boys followed the imaginary line created by Mika's finger before laughing too. Shikamaru glanced at the other clouds in the sky before pointing at one that was a little to the right of Mika's squashed-pot-sticker cloud. "Well, that one looks like a toy shuriken that one of my family's deer chewed up."
The three of them shared another laugh before Chouji pointed and said, "That one looks like a dog."
"Maybe because I am a dog," a tired-sounding voice responded, startling all three children. Mika and Shikamaru turned onto their stomachs and saw Pakkun standing with his face just above Chouji's. The awkward silence, interrupted only by the wind, didn't last long before Mika, Shikamaru, and Chouji were rolling around, laughing, while Pakkun just sat there and watched.
When they were done laughing, Mika asked the dog, "What are you doing here, Pakkun-san?"
Pakkun scratched behind his right ear with his hind leg as he answered, "Kakashi wanted me to stay with you during the time he's away on his mission. So he sent me to find you and to stick with you."
Suddenly, the laughs she had just shared with her new friends didn't mean anything. Her depressed feelings returned as she was reminded that her brother-figure was going on a mission, which meant she was going to be alone at their apartment…
Her negative train of thought was interrupted when Pakkun suddenly said, "Oh, and you'll be staying with someone named Shikaku and his family. You know, just in case he doesn't make it back in time for your entrance ceremony at the Academy."
"You mean Mika-chan's staying with me, my mom, and dad?" Shikamaru asked somewhat excitedly.
"If you're Shikaku's son, then yes." Pakkun stood up and jumped down from the bench they had all been laying down on. "C'mon, Mika. Let's go get your bags ready."
Mika fidgeted and then hugged Shikamaru and Chouji around their necks. "Can they come with us, Pakkun-san? Pleeeease?"
Pakkun sighed. "Fine. Let's go."
()()()()()()()()()()
Mika stepped into her and Kakashi's apartment and ran straight to her room. She pulled two duffel bags out from underneath her bed and began to fill one of them with clothes and the other with some stuffed animals, books, and sketchpads. Pakkun jumped onto her bed and laid down near the pillow while Shikamaru and Chouji stood in her bedroom doorway, looking around at her room.
"Your room's kinda cool, Mika-chan," Chouji commented, stepping into the room after a minute or two. His eyes fell on two urns sitting side-by-side on one of the shelves on Mika's short bookshelf, behind which sat the facial profile pictures of two Anbu, a man with spiky silver hair and green eyes and a woman with long blonde hair and deep blue eyes. He gestured to Shikamaru, who in turn also came over to investigate. "Hey, Mika-chan, who are these people?"
Mika looked up from zipping her duffel bags shut, her sky blue eyes widening a bit when she saw who they were talking about. They became sad a second later even though Mika smiled a little. "That's my Kaa-san and Tou-san. They died when I was a baby. At least that's what Kakashi-niisan tells me…"
Chouji and Shikamaru shared a nervous glance before they looked back at the photos, placed their hands together in front of their chests and offered a small prayer to them. Mika watched in silent awe as her friends turned around and, with slight blushes across their cheeks, asked simultaneously, "Can I carry a bag for you?"
Mika beamed at them. "Sure!" She handed Chouji the bag with her books and stuffed animals and Shikamaru the bag with her clothes. She ran to the bathroom at the end of the hall, grabbed her toothbrush and hairbrush, and shoved them into her shoulder bag before she went back to her room and grabbed the framed photos of her mom and dad, gently sliding them into her shoulder bag behind her reading book. "Shall we go?"
()()()()()()()()()()
"Shin'nyū o yurushite!" Mika and Chouji called out as they removed their sandals after entering Shikamaru's house. Shikamaru, having already removed his sandals, ran ahead and poked his head into the kitchen, saying, "Kaa-san, I'm home."
Mika and Chouji both heard a soft female voice reply, "Welcome back, Shikamaru. Who was that I heard in the hall? Did you bring home some friends?"
"Hai. And I think one of them is going to be staying with us for a while," Shikamaru added as footsteps approached the hallway from the kitchen.
Yoshino Nara stuck her head out into the hallway and asked, "Would it possibly be that girl? I kind of recall your tou-san saying something about helping one of his friends by looking after his little sister…"
Pakkun trotted up to Yoshino and sat on his haunches as he explained what Kakashi had told him. After his explanation, Yoshino smiled and walked around the corner from the kitchen, kneeling down to Mika and Chouji's eye levels. "Well, you are most certainly welcome here, Mika-chan. And you as well, Chouji-kun. Why don't you call your tou-san and kaa-san to see if you can spend the night here?"
Chouji's cheeks gained a slight pinkish hue as he replied, "I-if it's no problem, Nara-san!"
"It's no problem at all. Now, Shikamaru, help Mika take her stuff to the guest room while I finish making dinner."
"Yes, ma'am," Shikamaru responded as he took the bag Chouji was carrying and leading Mika and Pakkun down the hall. As they passed the rooms, he pointed at each one and explained their uses: his room, his father's study, a bathroom, a storage room, another bathroom…
"And here's the guest room," he said finally, opening a door towards the end of the hall. It was a decent sized bedroom that hosted a twin-sized bed, a nightstand with a reading lamp and a clock, and a dresser. Pakkun immediately settled himself on the bed and readied himself to catch some z's while Mika and Shikamaru put her bags on the bed next to him.
Mika beamed at Shikamaru and said, "You know, your kaa-san is pretty awesome!"
Shikamaru chuckled drily. "That's because you haven't seen her when she's angry…"
"Nani?"
"Never mind."
Translations:
1) Shin'nyū o yurushite - Pardon the intrusion
Thank you for being patient with this one. My inspiration for this story kinda flew out the window for a bit and it took forever to get it back ^^" But kudos to Linaewen110 for being my only reviewer so far~~~ I know for a fact that a bunch of you have read this story and favorited it and/or added it to your alert list. Pleeeeease~~~ I just want to hear your input even if it's a few words! I even have anonymous reviews enabled DX
But anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and just FYI I might not be updating until after Christmas ^^ Feliz Navidad!
