Shikamaru was in his preferred cloud-watching location, the side of the Nara's old meadow-land that was furthest away from Konoha. The distance wasn't what made the spot Shikamaru's favourite, though, so much as the fact it was outside the valley that sheltered Konoha, and consequentially when you lay there on your back, there was nothing but sky in sight.

The Genin lay supine in the grass, enjoying the pleasant state of being utterly unaware of the land around him. The only thing between him and the drifting clouds was a few errant dragonflies, and a hawk that was circling above, just close enough that the colours of its plumage were shown by the sun. It was three days since the Preliminary exams, and Shikamaru had recovered from his physical and mental exhaustion. Ahh, how relaxing life is in the aftermath of things...

He appreciated the downtime, delaying his return to shinobi life with a teenager's ability to enjoy rest when it presents itself, putting future problems out of mind and enjoying the stillness while it lasts. He'd even gone so far as to find an old mesh shirt (he'd stopped wearing that style several years ago for the most part), confident that he wouldn't be using chakra and therefore taking the opportunity to get a tanned chest.

He'd visited Chouji in the hospital every day, once meeting Ino there. The blonde had informed him that the final part of the exams would take place a month later, and told him to go to Naruto to find out who was fighting who. (Well, her exact words had been more like "What does it matter to me? I'm only going to go to see Sasuke-kun's fights!")

Shikamaru hadn't seen any of the other Genin, yet. Independent action still seemed too much effort. He let his eyes drift back along with the clouds...

No use in getting hung up over things...

And remained so, aware of the heat rising around him as morning passed. Shortly after mid-day, the serene scene was broken by a raucous cry.

"Hey, hey, Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru lifted one forearm from the grass in a lazy gesture. He didn't need to look up to know it was Naruto; the old Nara house was out of the village proper, and this was the far side of the Nara lands. Not many people visited him when he was out here, and even if that greeting hadn't given it away, the blond was a fairly common visitor to this secluded spot. A lot of serious conversations between the two had taken place here.

The first had been when they'd been in the academy about a year, though they hadn't been more than passing acquaintances at the time. Shikamaru had found Naruto crouched in his cloud-watching spot (and told him with an infant's panache that the place was his, for-your-information, before noticing the other boy had been crying and feeling supremely uncomfortable). Shikamaru hadn't known what to do, and so he'd just lain down a short distance away, and after a few minutes asked Naruto if he wanted to watch the clouds. The blond had done just that, calming down as time passed.

It hadn't been until the sky was dusky and Shikamaru had been thinking about getting up to leave that Naruto had spoken to him. He'd apologised for taking the other's place, and confessed that he'd been running away from the orphanage where he stayed. He'd apparently often visited this field while he was missing school, and hadn't known someone else visited it (owned it, Shikamaru had thought with some indignance, but kept this to himself).

Shikamaru hadn't asked Naruto anything but had been told more anyway. To be honest, he hadn't wanted to hear about the other boy's problems at all, but asking him to be quiet would have upset him again, and then Shikamaru would have felt even more awkward. Seeing someone who was normally blindly happy in an emotionally vulnerable state was scary to six-year-old Shikamaru, and he liked Naruto even if he was an idiot. So he listened, and Naruto had kept coming to the side of the Nara's field – the only place in Konoha where the Hokages' faces weren't at all visible. When Shikamaru saw him there he wouldn't mind, because even if he couldn't really relax to watch the clouds. Naruto wasn't unpleasant company, and he'd only spend time in there when he was in a thoughtful mood.

Well, he was generally in a brooding mood when he showed up, but it made little difference - Naruto seemed to abide by unspoken rules: spending time with Shikamaru, he'd be still, and speak calmly. Shikamaru supposed it was a time-out for the commonly hyperactive blond. But despite being someone who valued solitude highly, he slowly deduced that while for him being alone was very different than it was for Naruto. The former was part of a family, the latter had lived unhappily in an orphanage without making connections, until he moved at the age of eight into his own apartment. If hanging around Shikamaru in comfortable silence was something that Naruto was comforted by doing, Shikamaru wouldn't begrudge him that.

This odd companionship built a trust between the two of them which stayed constant through their youth. However, they weren't close friends at the academy – in fact, most of the communication that took place between them there was the blond asking for answers. But that didn't bother Shikamaru - Naruto was an essentially sociable creature, and the lazy ninja wouldn't expect him to stay calm for long when there were people to pester or tease or prank.

(When Shikamaru had learnt about the Kyuubi no Kitsune, he'd wondered if he had an obligation to tell Naruto. On the one hand, Naruto trusted him; on the other, Naruto would be happier not having to reconcile his already screwed up view of his dad with this whole business. He'd decided there was no reason for him to ever find out, although he wasn't quite sure whether it was because of his concern for Naruto's mental well-being or his own cowardice.)

But Naruto's visit today was didn't seem to be in hopes of an impromptu counselling session. The grin on the prankster ninja's face attested to that.

"Ne, come with me to the hospital! I want to give Chouji the food I made for him," He waved something in Shikamaru's face "but I don't like going to hospitals, and you're his team-mate so you should come visit him too!"

Shikamaru sighed, but rolled over and got to his feet. Naruto's idea of logic was so bothersome. And - he'd cooked food for Chouji. Shikamaru dreaded to think what it'd be like. Oh well, a visit wasn't a bad idea. It wasn't likely that there'd be anyone else there, even though it wasn't yet the much-anticipated Akimichi lunch break yet. And Naruto's cooking would scare any gourmand off, he thought sardonically.

They reached the hospital together, only to find Chouji asleep, an unfamiliar Akimichi woman sitting by his side. By silent agreement, they left before she noticed them.

As they walked back down the corridor, Naruto frowned, making a thoughtful noise.

"Neh, Shikamaru, d'you think Sasuke-bastard's still here?"

"Tch, I thought you said he couldn't have visitors..." Shikamaru didn't really want to spend time with the Uchiha whether or not he was allowed them, but on the other hand he didn't really want to head back after walking all the way here.

"Aa, but there wasn't anyone at the reception desk!" Naruto said, holding up a hand and grinning "Sooo, we can just go look for him!"

"Your plans are always so troublesome."

He followed Naruto anyway. Geez, I'm like his minder. Stupid sense of duty that makes me want to keep the hospital intact...

"So what did you make for Chouji anyway? Aren't you meant to be training?"

"Well" Said Naruto, and Shikamaru recognised the signs of him launching into a speech "I didn't want to work with the closet-pervert (who Kakashi told me to work with because he's a jerk and been put in charge of ANBU security stuff but I bet he's working with Sasuke anyway-ttebayo!) and Aunti-sensei is waaay too far away to go visit, and I met this uber-old super-pervert guy who knew my dad but he was being a jerk and wouldn't train me so I asked Iruka-sensei what I should do and he said I had to listen to Ebisu-san but I got cooked" - Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, but didn't really want to know - "so he said spend an hour doing something else but Ichikaru's was shu-ut – so unfair! - and I was making myself Instant Ramen and think how sad it is not to have ramen and then I thought I bet Chouji needs food, that'd be good since I was kinda worried about him...

"Aaaand so! I was gonna cook something cool and nice for him, but I realised he could probably get food like that from his family, and they'd be better at making stuff like that than me." he pouted, then his face lit up as if the idea had occurred anew to him again "So then I thought, what could be better than a gift of my own, unique, Kazama-Naruto-trademarked-dish!

"You... made up a meal?" Shikamaru felt a sense of impending doom.

"Not just a meal, a whole new food!" Naruto's face was scarily enthusiastic. "Ramen-cake!"

"What?" O lord. What on earth has he made?

"I put rice and egg with water in with the instant ramen, and cooked it... and then I put flour in until it set! It's amazing and it's gonna be the next big thing! If you're lucky, I'll cook some for--"

He stopped abruptly, frowning with intensity.

"There's something!"

"There's lots of things, it's a hospital. What's wrong?"

But Naruto just took off at a run.

AN: Naruto hasn't yet convinced Jiraiya to train him. He's somewhat less desperate for tuition and has worked with Ebisu before, so he's content to work with the subpar closet pervert for now. If you read that rant carefully, he's been learning water walking, but sans Kyuubi-healing he's had to go and take time off to avoid being par-boiled. And this has lead to him developing a career in cooking.

I hope Naruto's weird rapport with Shikamaru isn't too trite. Remember that though he isn't ostracised like his is in canon, he's pitied and compared to his father constantly. Which is not something he enjoys.