Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto


The last move on the shogi board was made by Shikaku, Shikamaru's dad. He was Shikamaru's toughest opponent. When Shikamaru played against Asuma, he always won, but like with his dad they talked about all kinds of things while the game was on. Right now the topic was his new team. Shikaku already knew Ino's and Choji's family, so this was mainly about Kazuaki and Asuma. Asuma hadn't mentioned a word about what Kazuaki was hiding, Shikamaru guessed there had to be some kind of a big secret that was become a hush hush subject. Shikamaru had tried to ask Asuma once, but Asuma changed the topic right away and left only "You will know when he wants you to." Suspicious, wasn't the feeling Shikamaru wanted to have around his new friend. Mixed with the suspiciousness, he already had tons of new and weird feelings for Kazuaki; he wasn't sure what to call them.

In the very Japanese house, with doors that had to be shoved to the side to open them up, Shikaku and he had been playing two rounds with shogi. The score was 1 – 1. The only woman in this house was supposed to have returned from grocery shopping by now. As usual she'd probably bumped into someone she knew and forgotten the time. She was such a pain, a scary pain to be correct, that had his dad whipped. He never fully understood why his dad married such a creepy woman. The older man always responded with "She has a gentle smile. Even the toughest woman will show her gentle side to the man she loves." Not the answer Shikamaru wanted. But in the end it didn't even matter, just simple curiosity that messed with his brain.

Shikamaru sighed as he leaned back to straighten his back. It was become stiff, so it cracked a bit too.

"Say, why don't you invite that Akiro kid over for dinner sometime...? I guess your mom is curious about your new friend. And she will stop bugging you for some seconds." Shikaku said in a mild tone.

He was more likely right that his mom would turn all her attention on Kazuaki, if he would come over, and not be scolding about whatever. Shikamaru saw potentially hope to not be her center of attention, but then he would feel sorry for Kazu who had to put up with her nagging too. Or not nagging, but her scary side, if it would come to that.

"Yeah sure... Sometime." Shikamaru mumbled thoughtfully. Shikaku gave Shikamaru a wondering look before he started cleaning up the shogi board.

Seconds later in the faint entrance of the whole house, their names were called by Yoshino. She wanted their help. Shikamaru snapped back to reality and muttered something about her being troublesome before he slowly walked towards her voice. Whatever she needed help with couldn't be a matter about life and death, right? Shikaku was three steps ahead of Shikamaru; he could hear the urgency in her voice that Shikamaru couldn't.

Yoshino had gotten a stronger man to help her get Kazuaki into the living room's couch. He had passed out few minutes after they accidentally met. She thanked the big man for all his help before he disappeared from the house. Although Yoshino was a strong woman, she didn't have four arms. On the kitchen bench were two full bags of food and other necessary items. For not getting the couch stained with blood, she had found towels and laid them under him.

A door opened and Shikaku and Shikamaru entered through it. In the hallway they met a stressed woman who was busy looking for a first aid cit. The two male Nara's stood there like question marks, wondering what she had called them for.

"What a drag..." Shikamaru muttered as he turned to leave.

He'd rather go look at clouds than stand there all day. Yoshino noticed this and yanked him with her to the living room, naturally Shikaku followed. The males got themselves a surprise. A beat up teenager, bleeding from uncared wounds and bruises in the face and arms, lying with his stomach down on the not matching couch. Kazuaki's low breaths proved he was still alive. He was pale as a corps and freezing cold. The black hair reached down over his closed eyes. Shikamaru moved to Kazuaki's side and gently touched his face. He could feel the coolness that escaped from the skin. The innocent face didn't move. As for Shikamaru, he couldn't help but to look worried. Yoshino asked, more ordered, Shikaku to go stable the groceries while she took care of the hurt one. Five slow breaths later, she was unbuttoning Kazuaki's shirt with Shikamaru's help. Now she could start with the pieces of glass that were scattered on his back. Shikamaru felt the need to protect and shield Kazuaki from whomever, whatever did this to him. This was not going to happen twice, even if he had to get veto powers over Kazuaki. Shikamaru kept helping his mom treat Kazuaki and was careful enough to not let the incident from the first practice happen, again. He knew Kazu hated it.

Hours later that day, Kazuaki regained consciousness. He didn't bother to open his eyes just yet. The warmth from the quilt held him down, as for the futon he was happy he didn't have to sleep on the cold floor. Kazuaki guessed what had happened after he had passed out. He was probably at Shikamaru's place, safe and sound from Toma. As Kazuaki lied still, he used his senses to find out the details his eyes wouldn't let him see. The pleasant aroma from cooking food filled the room like nothing else. Steady footsteps outside the room he was in and the creeks from the floor as the person walked, it was most likely a male from the heavy sound waves. A light propelling sound of a fan was rotating above him. Someone was breathing calmly and regularly on Kazuaki the left side. That someone probably wanted him to wake up and ask for answers. A chill waved through his body. Would he lie or tell the truth? What was he going to say? He needed a plan or an escape route. If he lied he had to make up a believable lie and if the lie failed, he would lose respect and trust among people. If he told the truth he had to open up everything that he had kept hidden for so long. Both choices were of equal weight. But what could he live with?

A sigh slipped pass Kazuaki's defenses. That was the sign of him awakening. No time to think. Stress took its hold around him. He opened his eyes and got a good look on the ceiling before he started hyperventilating. He shut his eyes close and focused on the other persons breathing. Skinny hands touched his face which caused him to flinch. The hyperventilating was making his head lighter. The hands slowly pulled away.

"Hey Kazuaki... The bad things are gone, you can calm down now." A voice said softly, perfectly hiding the scared to death part.

The voice, the voice... Who did it belong to? Kazuaki felt so disorientated. Nothing felt to be in its rightful place today. He decided to push that away and focus again on the persons breathing; mimicking it was harder than expected.

Finally Kazuaki had control over his body. Inhaling air deeply and slowly exhaled it again. He opened his eyes just to see the pair of familiar light brown once. They were worried and confused. Kazuaki broke their gaze as he slowly moved into a sitting position. His right hand moved instantly to his chest and felt fabric instead of skin. His body was wrapped up, so the bleeding would stop.

"Thanks for taking care of me..." Kazuaki barely managed to mumble, his throat was too dry to get it any better.

Shikamaru nodded once, 'Damn my curiosity!' he thought and hoped Kazu would give him an answer for every question that was swirling around in his head. Unexpectedly Kazuaki started crying. The feelings inside him were overwhelming. The tears fell on his lap as he tried to hide his face by tilting it down. Shikamaru moved towards Kazuaki in an attempt to give him a hug, but Kazuaki grabbed Shikamaru's shoulders and held him away. His nails dug deeper in Shikamaru's skin as his grip got stronger. The black hair hid his eyes while he had his head was downwards the whole time. Unintentionally Kazuaki leaned forwards and lightened his grip; his face buried itself in Shikamaru's arms. His quiet sobs seemed like they would never stop.

"You're so troublesome... Your emotions are like a rollercoaster right now." Shikamaru said and chuckled, trying to bring the mood to a better level. He failed. "So... Will you tell me what happened when you have calmed down again?" he added softly in Kazuaki's ear.

The voice sent a little electric jolt in Kazuaki's stomach; he wouldn't deny that he liked Shikamaru's voice, his warmth, his scent, his strange and different personality. No it was more than that, he liked Shikamaru's whole package. He felt his heartbeat beginning to race; Shikamaru felt it as well and took Kazuaki closer. Both of the heartbeats got a little stronger.

"You don't have to, I just want to know." Shikamaru mistook why the heartbeat got faster. Probably easier that way, Kazuaki didn't want to talk just yet.

Somehow he started to calm down, his tears stopped floating down his cheeks and he was focusing on Shikamaru's breathing, mimicking it again. Neither one of them thought about breaking the hug. Kazuaki felt a new present standing outside of the room, but it disappeared to fast to register who it was. Nervous and flushed, Kazuaki started to regain more consciousness and realized how close the two of them were.

Two knocks came from the door, it startled them both. The good, safe feeling from the hug vanished as they got separated. Kazuaki felt the need to be that close to Shikamaru again. It was like a drug that had been lured into him and now he craved for more.

The woman he met on the street came in and held two trays with food in her hands. She placed them between the youths and sat down on the opposite side of Kazuaki. Kazuaki tensed a bit when she started examine him. The door slid open again, the masculine Asuma entered. He looked sort of angry. The expression didn't suit him at all. His face usually had a well placed smile on it.

"Kazuaki I think we really need to talk about this... situation." Asuma said with a serious tone and looked at the two people next to Kazuaki. Yoshino took the hint and left without a word, she had other things to do. She was a housewife for crying out loud. Shikamaru hesitated; he didn't want to leave, not now. Asuma gave him a look and walked closer.

"Are you ok? I mean you're beaten up, I can see that, but..." Asuma's voice trailed off. Sighing, he looked at Shikamaru before he shifted to Kazuaki. "Do you want him to hear this?" he asked. Kazuaki just glanced at Asuma. Wasn't it obvious that Shikamaru could stay and listen? Kazuaki had chosen truth. So he nodded once before he tried to find words.

"I caused trouble for him so I guess it's fair. And yeah I'm fine." Kazuaki answered a bit hoarse, his dry throat still wanted liquid. The left arm moved towards the transparent glass on his tray, he placed it against his lips and tilted it so the water moved into his mouth. It was half empty when he was done.

"Kazuaki... Toma can't continue like this, either he has to stop or you would have to move. What did you do that pissed him off more than usual?" Asuma thought it had been bad enough already, but the result of what Toma had done now was too much to overlook.

"I... erm... just played with my guitar a little too loud and... didn't stop when he ordered me to. And I sort of tried something on him." The last part was Kazuaki whispering, a little ashamed and a little proud of himself to have managed to use a jutsu on Toma.

Shikamaru sat quietly by and listened to the conversation that went on. He wasn't familiar with a male named Toma, so he guessed it had to be Kazuaki's older brother... and that Toma had a short fuse. Practically a ticking bomb that was loose in the streets. Now he knew that it was Kazuaki's only known family member he had to protect Kazuaki from.