A/N: In "Skimming" by amiability, chapter 4 has Itachi thinking about how things could have been if Shikako (from "Dreaming of Sunshine" by Silver Queen) had been older, so I took the idea and I ran with it. This, uh, actually got longer than I intended it to, too (like 700+ words longer). Oops.

Speaking of, I do not own Naruto. Obviously.

The beginning of what she would eventually know to be her new life, was terrifying and all those bad emotions that came with that first one. Nara Shikako began her life screaming, and she would stay that way for some time. She would take time to settle into her new life, and it would worry her parents, Nara Shikaku and Yoshino, she did not know what was being explained for her reactions, at the hospital. She did not understand that it was being decided already then that she would not be suited to be a ninja.

There were moments when she could read their faces, but learning to understand and to read would take time. So she began learning. At nights she would babble, during days she would babble, trying to repeat the words spoken to her. She wanted to be able to understand. She needed to.

She had only managed to speak words, but understand more, the first time she saw the mountain with the faces.

To begin with, when she had realized who her parents were, she had begun to worry that she had replaced Shikamaru. It would be a blessing in that she did not have to hide intelligence, her attempts to stall her advancement so she would not be noticed, would be accepted, because Shikamaru had been a genius. But at the same time, that was a terrifying burden to bear.

She was the heir. She would have to be strong. And she would have to get smarter.

She is so very young, when she sees the mountain. Her crying would be excused because she is just a little child. There could be a ton of reasons for her crying, and no one would immediately jump to the conclusion that it was the three faces carved into a mountain.

All she can think about, is when she must be. Before Namikaze Minato become Hokage. Was she stuck in the Third War? Would she grow up into that? What could she even do? What about-

Well, there was one thing she knew for certain.

Shikako would have to grow strong, if only to protect the parents she had grown to love so. And, as it seemed she had been born before Shikamaru's time, she would have more time to do it. She did not want this Konoha that her parents, and now her, thought of as a home to perish.

Shikako is three when she, for the first time, feels the fear of her incapability overwhelm her. Her tiny feet bring her to the bedroom of her parents, and she knocks softly with an unoccupied hand, the other holding a ball of light to show her way. And when she feels her parents shift to attention, she whispers, "Nightmare."

And that's all she needs to say, for her father to hold a hand out for her to join them.

They say nothing about the display of chakra, despite that she can feel them both being awake. She thinks they may have dismissed her use of chakra as unimportant or perfectly normal, until she turns four, and her mother asks her what she wants to do when she's grown up. Shikako gives her a puzzled look, like it should be obvious by the books she's asked them to help her learn to read with, like it's obvious by the ones she's been dragging to her room practically every day, "Ninja, mom."

Her mother smiles at her and tells her it's fine if she doesn't want to be, and her father walks into the room to stand beside Shikako just in time for the explanation that she is going to become an older sister.

Shikamaru is still going to be born, and Shikako is so relieved, her mother asks if she doesn't want to be the heir to the Nara clan.

Of course she's going to be the heir. How else will she protect her little brother?

Her mother grows larger, and Shikako finds herself often around her to help out, her self-training slowing until all she gets is sessions with her father, who is more often at home now, both just close enough to be aware if something happens to her mother.

September passes through with the birth of Shikamaru and in her excitement, Shikako has forgotten what is to come.

It is just a few week after that, that the worst happens. The Kyuubi attacks while she is in her room, and she stills completely, the chakra in the air suffocating her. Any thought she may have had mere moments before are gone, and where there had once been a fight or flight response, the only one she was capable of giving during that terrifying night is that one of hiding, staying so still so that the predator may not notice you.

In the days after, there is heaviness in the air, of mourning and anger and darkness choking the village. She is near, when the word spreads about Naruto, the child bearing a heavy duty. She is there when the rumors start.

She does not stay long enough for the anger to take over, but she knows it is there, and she swears to never blame a child for the deeds of demons. He is a baby, he could not have done anything to stop that terrifying bijuu that attacked them at the wishes of a man that should have been dead. A man that will continue to attack them in different ways. She can not allow him to get to the village that her family loves so and that she has grown up in.

Shikako is five when she finally convinces her parents to let her enter the Academy. She promises to not try to graduate before she knows she is ready, and she promises to trust them if they say she is not ready.

She is no natural, but she works hard and constantly. Her breaks are for her family and for rest and sustenance. She does not make friends. And then she graduates when she is six. The clan is proud but her parents are worried. She promises them that she is ready, that she will not falter, and that if she ever thinks she might, she will come to them. Her brother just wants to cuddle. Well, mostly he just wants to sleep, but resting with her seems to have become a habit he is unwilling to break.

It is a good thing that Genin begin with D-ranked missions that are mainly done within the village, so that she can return home within the day to see him.

She still fits in a lot of training, because she needs to be incomparably strong. She has gathered much attention, but it was necessary despite all the drawbacks.

With her motivation, she becomes the most spoken of Nara, and she is fully aware of it. But it takes off some of the pressure on the Uchiha, and she thinks that maybe they will have a little more time, now. Maybe Itachi will not break Sasuke on his way out. Maybe Konoha will have a better chance this time. Maybe her family will not lose anyone dear to them.

That is what Shikako wants to protect. The future of her family.

She both does and does not expect to find a kindred soul in Uchiha Itachi, when he enters the Genin force a year after her, just in time to watch her become Chunin.