A/N: Ok, here's chapter 4! I can personally relate to this chapter and Shikamaru's stuggles, it happens to me every year too. Personalizing messages is one of the hardest things to do. I'm sure some of you have the same problem. *looks around knowingly* You know who you are! =)

Disclaimer: Same as last time, except I used up all the ink in one of my pens.

Chapter 4: Sending Christmas Cards

The fourth thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me
Sending Christmas cards
Hangovers
Rigging up the lights
And finding a Christmas tree

The only sound in the room was Shikamaru's gentle breathing. Of course, there should also have been the sound of pen scratching across paper, but perhaps that was expecting too much. The boy was sleeping, forehead resting on the kitchen table, arms dangling at his sides. The large stack of new Christmas cards next to him indicated he hadn't even made a dent in his task.

"Shikamaru Nara," his mother exclaimed as she walked through the door. "Are you sleeping again? You know, if you had just begun writing the cards when I gave them to you, you would already be done by now. Shikamaru, are you even listening to me?"

Listlessly lifting his head, Shikamaru nodded once. "Women…" he mumbled under his breath.

Sighing, he opened one of the cards up in front of him and picked up the black ballpoint pen. He stared at all the blank space—who could possibly have so much to say that they needed that much room to write? He sure didn't. In fact, he could never think of anything to write at all—not for birthdays, thank you notes, or any other occasion.

Carefully, he placed the tip of the pen on the paper and scrawled "Merry Christmas" in big letters across the top. Not very original, but he couldn't think of any other message than that. What else was there to say, really? "I hope your holiday is a special as you are" and "enjoy the warmth of our friendship this holiday season" were way too cheesy. Maybe a reference to world peace and love? Definitely not. How about "remember to leave some milk and cookies for Santa"? No way. Who was he writing to, a five year old? This was such a drag.

He rested his chin in the palm of his hand and began to doodle on one of the spare envelopes. As his pen danced across the paper, he tried to imagine what his teammates would be doing right now. Choji would probably be having a midday snack, perhaps a bag of potato chips or a piece of barbecued pork. Of course, Ino wouldn't take part, she always strictly followed the rules of her latest diet. But that never stopped her from tagging along and commenting on her teammate's daily weight gain.

He glanced down at the envelope, it was now covered in swirling lines—a stark contrast to the very blank card that lay open beside it. He shifted his gaze to the large stack next to him. Oh yes, it was going to be a long day.

Shikamaru had never been an arrogant kid, but he knew he was smart. Sure, he didn't always like to show it, but he had an IQ of over 200. So why was a simple task like writing holiday messages so difficult? He could ace a test with his eyes closed, outwit any enemy, and beat anyone at a game of shogi, but Christmas cards were in a whole other league all together. Wait, shogi! There was an idea for a card! He took up his pen again and drew a shogi board on the inside cover. It took up the whole side. Then, across from it he wrote, "Dear Asuma, I hope you're having a good vacation so far—I heard what Gai-sensei put you through the other day. Maybe we can get together and play shogi some time soon. Merry Christmas! Shikamaru and family." It was perfect for his teacher, and as an added bonus, all the space on the card was completely filled. Was that all there was to it? He just had to draw a huge picture and write a little personal message?

He sealed Asuma's card in an envelope, addressed it, and placed on top of the small pile of finished cards. Then he reached over and pulled the next blank one towards him. Hmm, who else would be easy to write to? The Akimichis, of course. He outlined a giant bag of potato chips and wrote a short message beside it. "Dear Choji and family, I hope you're enjoying the holiday. We'll all get together soon and go out for barbecue. Merry Christmas! The Naras."

Great! That was one more down—only about a hundred more to go. He quickly scanned the list of names his mother had written out for him. Did he really have to send cards to them all? He didn't even know half these people!

Suddenly Shikamaru heard the front door slide open and felt a cold draft blow into the house. "Hey, Shika," his father called. "How's it going?" Shikato Nara carefully wiped the slush from his shoes before removing them and walking into the kitchen.

"Ugh," the boy groaned. "Dad, this is such a drag."

His father eyed the small stack of completed cards. "Hmm, yes I can see that. You've made quite a lot of progress there, haven't you?" He added sarcastically. The tiny number had only grown by two since he had left the house that morning.

"Dad, look at these names. Who are some of these people? The Moriokas, the Sasakis, the Naritas…? Have you even heard of them?"

"Well, your mother has a lot of friends, son," Shikato replied uncertainly, for in truth, he didn't know any of those names.

"Women…" Shikamaru complained.

"You said it," his father agreed.

The boy watched the older man leave—great, even his dad had abandoned him to this hopeless undertaking. Slowly he reached forward for the next card. He started with the Yamanakas, moved on to the Inuzukas, and then wrote out Naruto's. At least he'd been able to think of something for those first five—Choji and Ino were on his team, while Kiba and Naruto had been his friends at the academy—but he really didn't know the rest of the rookies that well. Sakura had always been drooling over the Uchiha, Neji, Tenten, and Lee had graduated a year before him, and Shino, Hinata, and Sasuke had always blended into the shadows, he couldn't remember if he'd ever even spoken to them!

Grumbling to himself, Shikamaru picked up his small stack of addressed envelopes and headed for the door. He'd go drop these off at the post office, maybe a short walk would give him some ideas. Sliding into his shoes and grabbing his jacket off its hook, the boy walked out the door and started strolling up the street at a leisurely pace. There was no need to rush this, right? He didn't want to have to go back inside to his task—no, his torture—too soon.

He kicked up slush with his shoes as he walked. All the snow had nearly melted, but there was still hope of a white Christmas, he'd heard that another storm was blowing in from the north. But even without the tiny white flakes blanketing every surface, the village still looked ready for the festivities. Long strands of colorful lights bedecked every house along the street—courtesy of Naruto and Sakura. Faintly, he heard a distant crash and a shout, apparently the duo hadn't finished yet.

Although he tried to drag it out, Shikamaru's lazy pace eventually brought him to the post office—there were only so many detours he could take. He dawdled around inside for a bit, taking an inordinate amount of time to choose stamps, and then watched the postman drop the letters into the sorting bag. Unfortunately, there were no more excuses for him to be there, so he trudged back out the door and into the bitter cold. It was a shame he couldn't just walk about the village dropping each letter in its respective mailbox, that would have taken so much more time. But no, Gai's influence over the Hokage during Christmastime extended even to sending out cards. Using a shinobi's speed to deliver them wasn't traditional. In Gai's opinion, the surprise at receiving an unexpected card was half the fun in sending them! Running around delivering cards as soon as one finished writing them tarnished the whole experience. Yeah, right.

Before he knew it, his feet had brought him back to his kitchen. He stood there for several minutes staring at the cards, willing them to write themselves. His attempt was fruitless. "What a drag," he mumbled before returning to his seat.

Let's see, what was another name on his mother's list? Oh yes, Neji Hyuuga. He'd heard that Team Gai had recently returned from a fairly dangerous escort mission. Perhaps he could write, "I'm glad your destiny wasn't to die or get wounded on your last mission." Or maybe not. That probably wouldn't be the proper message to send to a fate-obsessed, extremely talented Hyuuga—too risky.

Shikamaru sighed. Maybe his mom would have an idea, after all, most of these people were her friends. "Hey, Mom," He called down the hall.

His mother stuck her head out one of the doors. There were pieces of wrapping paper in her hair and she held some scissors in her hand. "Did you call me, Shika?"

"Yeah. Listen Mom, what do you want me to write to all these people?"

"Honey, you're still working on those cards?" She frowned.

"Yeah, it's such a drag."

"You are so lazy, Shikamaru. I don't know what I'm going to do with you." She ran her hand through her hair in exasperation, knocking loose some of the paper slivers.

"But Mom, most of them are for your friends. I wouldn't know what to say to them if I sat here all night!"

"Go ask your father, Shika, I'm a little busy right now." She pulled her head back into the room. That boy needed to learn the value of hard work. At the moment, she was up to her neck in a sea of bright red wrapping paper and tape as she tried to package all of the family's presents, she couldn't handle sending Christmas cards too. "Men…" she grumbled to herself.

Shikamaru turned back to stare at the blank card before him. He already knew his father wouldn't help, he tried that earlier this morning. Besides, knowing his dad, Shikato would have made himself scarce by now so his wife couldn't pull him into yet another holiday job.

This was getting ridiculous. How would it be so hard? He set the pen down, leaned back in his chair, and put his hands together in his favorite thinking position. The minutes went by slowly, the loud ticking of the kitchen clock reverberated throughout the house. Finally, he sat back up. Picking up his pen he opened each of the blank Christmas cards and wrote:

We hope you enjoy the holidays, heaven only knows how much work each one of us has put in to make them perfect.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Naras

A/N: I think his messages sums up what has to say quite nicely. And as you'll see, there's still a lot more for our favorite ninja to go through. Please review, I'd really appreciate it. Reading them makes writing this whole story worthwhile.