Of the Leaf
Darklight
A.N.: Okay, now I am very pissed off.
Alright, I get it that some of you people just don't like my story, and that is just fine by me. I have told you that any and all flames will be used to light any fire jutsu's that appear in my story but who ever sent me that anonymous e-mail with the worm virus in it… you can bet that if I find out who you are then I am sure as hell reporting your ass.
Look if you people want canon then you really shouldn't even be on this site 'cause we all at some point we all will screw with the plot line whether it is intentional or accidental.
My point? You want canon? Go read the original manga…and don't bitch about the anime because they used an artistic license to add a few scenes etc. And you sure as hell shouldn't be sending malicious e-mails to people and messing with our computers.
To the rest of all of you… Thank You. Very much. For you reviews, support, even when you just alert or favorite this story: Thank You All!
I never dreamed that on this web site people would start getting so pissed of about a friggin' story that they would actually go to the trouble of getting a starter e-mail address, getting my address and sending me a virus inside a flaming review. (Asshole(s) whatever. Don't you have a life???)
Look, the logo of this site is to 'Unleash your imagination!' and that is what we all are doing. By reading and writing stuff that we are proud enough of to post for the whole world to read and criticize. We ain't doin' it for the money kiddies.
Don't ruin it, people. Seriously.
To those of you who write outside of canon…start watching you e-mail inbox. Some psycho is nutty enough to do it to me and I thought my story was completely plausible (and in character). As far as I am concerned: as a group of young hormonal teenagers goes… any frickin' pairing is possible! (Hell, for kicks and giggles I might just post the Shikamaru x Gaara x Hinata Threesome pairing. See who hates me then!)
Despite this setback I will continue my tale of…NON-CANON ROMANCE. (Gasps of horror)
ONWARD!!!!!!!!!!!
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(Present time)
'Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow Ow. Ow. Ow.' was the mantra going through Shikamaru's head at the moment. Later, he supposed, he would be very proud of the fact that he had been able to not only stay conscious but to get up, move as well as fight after he had been punched through not one, not three but five trees by Sakura. Later.
Currently he was walking down the street with Naruto jabbering in his ear about said fight. The blonde was crowing about Shikamaru's victory over Sasuke. Snorting the Nara considered himself very lucky. Taking down the Uchiha had been hard as hell and earned him the punch through the trees. Not that Sakura had been mad at Sasuke's loss. Far from it, she had squealed with laughter that had given her away. Unfortunately Shikamaru had been caught off guard as well. The result had been pain, a lot of it.
In the beginning, Sai and Sakura had worked together to take down Yamato, Naruto had helped take out Sasuke and saved Shikamaru's ass from Sakura. Sai, Shikamaru and Naruto had then gone toe to toe with Kakashi and barely escaped with their skins intact. Kakashi had taken out Sakura but not before she used medical Nin jutsu to cut his tendons in his right arm. With this disadvantage Shikamaru had gone one on one against Kakashi in a fight of the minds. Sai had stepped in at the last second and took out both ninja with a very powerful ink based jutsu. Kakashi was still sulking over losing his precious Icha Icha volume whatever. What ensued had been pure chaos as Naruto and Sai opened up on each other. Training ground five would not be fit for use until the genin teams were able to clean it up. That would be a while.
"Did you see the look on his face when Yamato-sensei called him out?! Ha! Duck-butt the almighty got taken down by the lazy ass! Oh man, I wish I could go back in time to see it again! And what was that powder you used on him Shikamaru? Some kind of Nara clan secret poison or agent? The way he started sputtering and wailing about his eyes… you'd think that you blinded him for the rest of his life! That stuff was powerful! Where can I get that from? Huh? Man, I can think of a thousand different ways I can use a powder like that…"
"Cornstarch and flour." Shikamaru interrupted.
"Huh?"
"Cornstarch and flour. That is what that powder was. Cornstarch and flour sifted together."
Naruto scrunched up his nose and stared at his friend in bewilderment. "Wha…? What is cornstarch?"
The dark haired ninja sighed, "Cooking ingredient. It's a thickening agent used for cooking. Hinata and I brought back a few things to test out and decide if the village could profit from the stuff. It wasn't meant to be used as a weapon but…well I used what I had on me." Shikamaru shrugged nonchalantly and kept walking down the street. Naruto had stopped and when Shikamaru realized that his friend hadn't caught up with him he too stopped and turned to regard him.
Naruto was pointing at him with a strange expression on his face. "You mean to tell me that YOU DEFEATED SASUKE UCHIHA WITH FLOUR AND CORNSTARCH?!?!?" he yelled out.
Glancing around Shikamaru noticed the sudden scrutiny he was getting from the crowded street. Naruto yelling something out on a city street wasn't all that uncommon but when he was yelling about the defeat of a former missing Nin at the hands of the laziest ninja Konoha had to offer. Well that brought attention, the kind of attention he really didn't like.
"Would you shut up already? I thought we already established that it was pure luck that I beat him. Not to mention you helped out…it's no big deal."
"No big deal?! Shikamaru, you clocked Sasuke with one hell of a right hook that he didn't see. Before you used that powder! You bypassed his Sharingan! Kakashi even said that was impressive! I heard him say it! All I did was distract duck-butt while you set up our trap. Man, you just…"
"EEP!"
The two young men stood blinking at each other in surprise. Then as one they turned back the way they came, surveying the street. Still crowded this late in the evening, the people of the village were moving along heading home or heading to get a bite to eat, yet none of the surrounding crowd seemed to be the source of the noise. Acting on a hunch Naruto jumped to an alley way entrance and poked his head around the corner.
Some way in he noticed a shadow pressed up against the alley wall. The shadow appeared to be either panting or hyperventilating. Sensing Shikamaru behind him Naruto stepped into the alley and moved closer to the shadow. Eyes adjusting to the failing light he realized that it was a shadow he knew well.
"Hinata?"
For some reason he felt Shikamaru stiffen behind him. Not bothering to think on it for a moment longer the blond moved closer to his friend.
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'This day just couldn't get any worse.' Hinata thought miserably to herself as she sought to get her breathing under control. First this whole fiasco with Shikamaru was reported to a very unhappy Lady Tsunade, then Kiba and his family found out her secret and now when she was heading to get something more to eat and she had to run into not just her husband but Naruto as well.
Fighting against the rising darkness Hinata blinked at the handsome face thrust up into her own. Blue eyes stared deeply into her orbs with concern.
Hinata forced herself to blink but felt the heat of her blush rising from her cheeks. Why did it have to be Naruto? Why couldn't Shikamaru have been with Choji? On instinct Hinata pulled her gaze away from her longtime crush and looked over his shoulder. Shikamaru stood a few feet behind Naruto. His face was unreadable but something in his eyes as he looked at the blond ninja showed his irritation.
A second later those dark eyes flickered to her and locked gazes with her. Something in his gaze caused her heart to beat more erratically. His eyes widened just the slightest at seeing her looking at him. Shikamaru glanced away and when he looked back at the scene Hinata saw that he had masked all emotion and his normal bored look was painted on his features.
Painted. That was an excellent word for his expression. Like a painted mask that hid true emotions from others. For just a moment Hinata felt inexplicably sad at that thought. Heart beat slowing as she gazed at her husband Hinata felt strangely empty as she realized that he was masking himself from her. Sheer force of habit caused her to drop her gaze and begin fiddling with her hands.
"Hinata? Are you okay? What was wrong?"
At the sound of her name Hinata looked back up into Naruto's face, startled at the sudden reminder of his presence and proximity. This time, Hinata was able to look at him without hyperventilating. She realized that something had changed but she was unable to say what.
"Hinata!" Turning to glance at Shikamaru, Naruto opened his mouth to say something to his friend when she realized that she had been standing there staring at him, trying to figure out what had changed.
"I-I-It's al-alright right, Naruto. I'm…I'm…okay. Really." she replied softly. Naruto turned back to examine her closely again, leaning forward to study her. He was so close that it almost felt like her was going to kiss her and Hinata reacted by pulling her head back away from his. A blush once again began staining her cheeks as she turned her face away in defense.
"Tch. Moron. Haven't you ever heard of personal boundaries Naruto? Back off of her! She is obviously uncomfortable so give her some room." Shikamaru had stepped closer and thrust an arm between them, grabbing Hinata by her elbow and pulling her away from the wall.
"Eh? Oh, sorry Hinata! By the way… congratulations on…well you know. Hope everything works out fine for you!"
"Naruto! Shut up already!" Shikamaru hissed. Catching the look on Hinata's face he grumbled, "Yeah, he knows. I told him. He would have hounded me till he figured it out anyways. You know he's not one to let things drop."
"W…w…well now that you mention it I, uh, I ran into Kiba and his family on the street earlier. They knew right away." Hinata ducked her head down but looked up at Shikamaru's resigned face from under her lashes.
The three ninja had begun walking again. The darkening sky and the just lighting street lamps served to create a mysterious aura around them. Naruto leaned around Shikamaru's lanky form.
"How? You didn't tell them? I thought baa-chan forbade the two of you from tellin' anybody about all this." A sharp glance from Shikamaru shut the blonde up but Hinata had already looked up at the darker ninja with a slight smile on her face. Shooting her a dark glance the shadow nin pressed his thin lips together tightly in aggravation.
"No, not really Naruto. He, well actually they, smelled it." Hinata explained turning back to the other man. Naruto blinked uncomprehendingly.
"Huh? You can smell…?"
Shikamaru sighed loudly and shook his head. "People each have their own smell, each person emits hormones and pheromones that leave a type of fingerprint except this is one that is smelled and not seen. Kiba and his family 'see' more with their noses than a normal person does. When someone goes away for a very long time and returns looking very different we may not recognize them but the Inuzuka family knows them instantly. So when a person is changed on a physiological level, like gets sick or becomes pregnant, that person's scent changes to reflect their condition and they recognize it immediately."
"Whoa…kinda cool. So we can't smell it?" Naruto asked, curious. Hinata smiled and shook her head.
"Not in the way you are thinking Naruto. We actually do smell the difference; it's just that we no longer use scent as much as we once did a long time ago. So, as a result, we don't recognize it or even are aware of it. If you take the time to train yourself you can enhance all of your senses or just one. That is actually how the Byakugan was created, hundreds of years ago. Some ancestor of mine sought to enhance his vision and began teaching his children to do the same, within a few generations the enhancement became genetic and grew stronger over the years."
Naruto hmm'd very quietly to himself processing the information. A few minuets later they reached the residential districts that lay on the edge of the Village. Naruto had crossed his arms behind his head and was gazing up at the darkened sky.
"Hey, Shikamaru? Could you teach your Shadow Possession jutsu to someone other than a family member? Like say your mom or a friend?"
"Not likely, Naruto. We may be a lot of things but we most certainly guard our secrets jealously. There's not a ninja anywhere with the same level of skill with shadow manipulation as our family. No brag, just the truth."
"So you have the best? Could it become a blood limit?"
"Nah…"
"You sure about that? You remember when Gaara was in Lee's room at the hospital? You grabbed him with your shadow possession and then I clocked him right? Well, you howled about how what I did to him you could feel also, so you asked me to ease off him. Your jutsu allowed you to feel what he felt. Then later on you were able to use the strangulation and then the stitching jutsu's."
Shikamaru slowed down his pace, thinking about what his friend was saying. Hinata blinked and thought about it herself realizing that the point Naruto was making was a valid one.
"Your shadow could feel and be guided right? Just like an arm or a leg, it is just another extension of you right? Just another sense of touch. Well, have you tried to use it without using hand signs? Just focus your chakra like the Hyuuga and Uchiha's do? On something simple like the shadow possession?"
"Think about it later son, we need to talk." came the deep voice from the shadows. The three teens jumped in surprise. Glancing at one another they realized that none of them had even sensed their surprise visitor. Turning to look in the direction from where the voice came they waited for the stranger to emerge. Though to one of them they voice was very familiar.
Shikato disengaged himself from the shadows from where he had been watching. Allowing his gaze to roll over his son's companions he found that he was surprised who Shikamaru was walking with. Hinata was there to his son's left, her eyes wide and so very doe-like. The older man found it very difficult to believe that this was the eldest daughter of the renowned Hyuuga clan. That and the fact that she was also a Jonin. She looked way to kind and gentle, but if there was anything he had learned over the years it was that nothing was as it appeared to be. Once he allowed his first impressions to fall away he noted that her feet were in proper defensive position, that she was well balanced and had been studying him as he had been studying her. All in all he found that he approved of the young girl.
Turning to the other teen, he frowned in displeasure, narrowing his eyes in a natural distaste. Blonde hair, bright blue eyes, whiskered cheeks there was absolutely no doubt that this was: Naruto Uzamaki, the demon child. The expression on the face of the younger man displayed his defiance. The older ninja prepared to send the boy away. Then unbidden, Shikato remembered his son speaking highly of the very same young man in front of him. He remembered his son saying how the teen was loyal, steadfast, unpredictable and kind. Shikamaru was a lot like his father and very difficult to get along with and if this young man had gotten past all of his son's barriers and befriended him even earning his son's trust then perhaps…
Naruto watched the older ninja warily. It was still fresh in his mind when adults would glare at him just like this man was. Revulsion would be written all over their faces. It was only when he was twelve that he found out why. The last six years he had been working very hard to prove those people wrong about him. But if the look on this guy's face said anything, it was that he still had a lot of work to do. Yet, as he watched, the man's face relaxed, became thoughtful and slowly something changed in the man's expression.
"Naruto Uzamaki, am I correct?"
"Yes…sir." Naruto answered cautiously.
"My son has spoken very highly of you. It is nice to see that you have grown up so…you have changed and you have changed the opinions of others about you. Perhaps you will make a good Hokage one day. Shikamaru…your mother is waiting for you inside. I suggest you get in there before she gets any angrier. Hinata-sama? Will you walk with me? I would like to speak with you."
Turning, Shikato moved away from the three stunned teens, heading into the fields that surrounded his family home. Naruto looked at Hinata and Shikamaru, the look on his face going to shock to pleasure. His smile was contagious and the others returned his happy grin. Naruto allowed himself a few seconds of accomplishment and pride, even a little hope. Maybe he could be accepted as Gaara was accepted in his home of Suna. Hinata and Shikamaru relished his happiness as moments like these were normally not shared with them. Sakura and his other teammates were usually the ones to see his triumphs.
"Shikamaru, your mother is waiting." His father's voice came from the darkness. Naruto waved at his friends and turned to go home, jogging in his excitement. Shikamaru and Hinata turned to each other. Each took a deep breath and smiled tightly in encouragement to the other. Nodding at Hinata, Shikamaru watched as she moved off of the street. Watching as she made her way over to his father's figure in the light of the rising moon.
Turning, the young man took a deep breath and moved towards his home. The lights were on in the living room as well as the dining and kitchen areas. Taking this as a good sign Shikamaru went inside. After removing his shoes and vest, Shikamaru headed for the kitchen. That was the only logical place for his mother to be.
Slipping in the large kitchen he watched his mother for a moment. Facing away from the doorway she was cutting up vegetables with rapid precision. The peels, seeds and other bits of discarded debris were gathered and placed in a bucket. This was a treat bucket they used for the fawns and mothers. A few more moments passed before Yoshino spoke up, her normally sharp voice subdued.
"Well? Are you going to just stand there in the doorway staring? Or you going to sit down and talk to me?"
Sighing Shikamaru moved to one of the kitchen table chairs. As soon as he was settled he heard a sound of something hitting the table top and sliding towards him. Looking at the small object he felt his face begin to heat up.
"Do you know what that is?" Yoshino asked. Putting the knife down she turned to face her son and leaned up against the counter top. Arms crossed she glared at her son. He was unable to meet her gaze.
"Well? Do you? Or did you sleep through that part of your classes as well? Perhaps you did and that is why you didn't get the memo. That, my wayward son, is called a condom. It helps prevent pregnancies. You know the thing that happens when two people have sex." She put emphasis on sex to get his attention.
His face still red, Shikamaru allowed his eyes to flicker up and meet her gaze for a moment before looking away. This was not at all what he had been planning on when he came home. He was completely off his guard. He gathered up his courage to speak.
"Mom, no…well yeah but…yeah, look let me tell you what happ…"
"Stop right there. I already know what happened, thank you very much. I had to have the HOKAGE tell me the gory details. In front of Hiashi Hyuuga, no less. Son, you and that girl did a marvelous job getting those trade agreements but she is now carrying your child. My grandchild! There could be some serious repercussions because of your actions." Yoshino sighed.
Looking at her only child Yoshino found she couldn't hold onto her anger. Here in front of her was her baby boy, in a mess of trouble. What was worse was that she knew that he completely understood the implications of what was going on. How his actions had possibly affected the entire Village politically and economically.
Turning back to the cutting board she sighed and picked up her knife. She couldn't be mad at him but she was disappointed in him. Shikamaru sensed this and sat back in his chair staring at the little foil wrapped package. He had never realized how much his mother's opinion of him had actually mattered. It hurt to grasp that he had lost her faith in him. Silence reigned in the kitchen as she finished cutting up the vegetables.
"Tell me about her."
"Eh?" Shikamaru looked up at his mother in surprise.
"This Hinata, tell me about her. Is she a good girl?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes, it matters! What is wrong with you?" Yoshino squawked and turned to face her son.
"Okay, okay…geez. What do you wanna know?" he sighed.
"Is she pretty?"
"Uhh…yeah? I think."
"You think?! What the…fine. Is she nice?"
"Yeah."
"Is she smart?"
"I guess so."
"Is she a good ninja?"
"Yeah."
"What is the matter with you!" Yoshino slammed her hand down on the counter with a vein pulsing in her forehead as she glared at her son. "Can't you at least give me a few more answers past a few syllables? Or are you ashamed of her? Is that it? You don't want to talk about her?" Yoshino asked slyly.
"What? No! I'm not ashamed of her! No!" Shikamaru replied defensively.
"Then why aren't you talking about her?" the older woman crossed her arms again and leaned back once more on the counter.
"I am talking about her!" Shikamaru indignantly retorted.
"Really? If this is what you call talking then I'm surprised you got around to baby making. Honestly, this girl must be a complete idiot if she enjoyed this." His mother said as she turned to picking up the bucket and moved to go outside.
"She is not an idiot!" Shikamaru fired back at his mother. He fumed at the thought. Honestly she said some of the craziest things!
"No? Tell me about her then." Yoshino asked, almost bored, as if she really no longer cared.
"She was one of the top female students in the academy, she was trained by Kurenai Yuhi, has made Jonin rank and all the while has been able to maintain her place as heir to the Hyuuga clan. She is a fast learner and a great ally to have in battle. She's hell on wheels when your up against her in a sparring session but can heal you damn near as fast as she can hurt you. She loves to garden and many of her salves and lotions are made by her own hands. She is a bit of an alchemist and scientist but is always conscious of her actions. She is incredibly kind and gentle and loves all animals. She refuses to judge another person before she knows them and forgives them if they ask for forgiveness. She's…she's a good girl." He finished lamely.
Yoshino had turned to look at her son, astonished at his words. He had stood up from his chair and the emotion in his words was obvious. His face colored with embarrassment as soon as he recognized the look on his mother's face. Sitting down again he put one hand up to cover his eyes and sighed. Kicking himself mentally he understood that he had been baited by his mother into spilling his guts but couldn't find the energy to be mad at her.
He meant everything he said about his wife and the need to defend her honor had swept him up as soon as his mom had made disparaging remarks about her. He made a mental note to nip that impulse in the bud if he was going out on any more missions. That could get him killed or worse have Hinata used as leverage against him.
A few more moments of silence before Yoshino could find her voice.
"You really do love her, don't you Shikamaru?"