The last thing Shikamaru felt like doing was mingling with his comrades while he ate his lunch, yet here he was walking into the shared cafeteria despite his utmost displeasure with the whole idea. His ANBU squad leader made it clear that if they wanted to eat before going off on the next mission, they needed to do so without leaving the Academy grounds. Troublesome. Since he and Neji returned from their mishap in Amegakure, they had been assigned to non-stop missions supposedly by happenstance, but Shikamaru knew better. Neji, of course, took full blame for the incident, sighting his concern the rookie under his care was in grave danger, and he had no choice but to use excessive force. Except this wasn't the first time, Hyūga was assigned an underling of sorts. His training methods genuinely considered that if a ninja made it to ANBU, they were skilled enough to handle themselves.

Tsunade didn't believe a single word coming out of Neji's mouth, however, for reasons Shikamaru didn't know the full extent of, she did not chastise or discipline the long-haired shinobi. Not directly anyway. Shikamaru believed that the surplus of missions suddenly thrust into their laps was a direct result of her orders. Who was he to fight a rightfully earned punishment? Though, he had half a mind to tell Tsunade everything was his fault and Neji had nothing to do with it. She'd already deduced Shikamaru to be involved in some way or the other, hence why his mission load also increased. If he could get the blame off Neji, maybe she would cut him a break. Gods knew the brunette needed it.

His qualm with eating in the cafeteria had nothing to do with his fellow ANBU members. It offered him the opportunity to catch up with the Hyūga since they hadn't seen one another in roughly two weeks. News had spread of an Akatsuki ambush on one of the elite ANBU teams. Shikamaru prayed for the first time in his life, prayed that Neji wasn't on that team. He should've known better than to even bother, why wouldn't it be Neji's team? The shadow manipulator didn't sleep a wink until confirmation that all three ANBU elites had returned with critical injuries, nothing fatal. And it was his full intention to visit Neji in the hospital, but his own missions kept him away.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" the rowdy blonde called a pitch too loud for Shikamaru's liking.

There it was right there bounding over to him— the reason Shikamaru did not wish to eat lunch in the cafeteria. Before the war, ANBU ate in separate quarters because their identity was meant to remain unknown among the villagers. Now with Konoha's numbers so sparse, most of the remaining ANBU operatives doubled leading jōnin teams or were required to use lower ranked ninjas for assistance on their missions. Tsunade saw no reason to keep the groups apart for the time being. Naturally, ANBU remained a top-secret classification, and all shinobi understood the two worlds were never to be minced. All Shikamaru wanted with his plate of mackerel was peace and quiet. He looked down at the grilled fish and sighed deeply. At least he would get a delicious meal.

"Yo." Shikamaru greeted with a casual wave.

Naruto skidded to a stop in front of him, screwed his eyes shut tight and beamed a shit-eating grin only Uzumaki himself could pull off. Shikamaru braced a hand on his hip and shook his head. Whatever it was Naruto wanted would have to wait, he was on a schedule after all.

"You have to see Neji's dorky new mask!" Naruto blabbed, lips wriggling with the effort of not laughing.

Shikamaru's interest was piqued. Neji, the opposite of troublesome. He cast a lazy gaze to the table where his roommate sat, brows knitted in what Nara assumed to be concentration since the man didn't bare any of the usual signs of irritation. His coal colored eyes stopped at the aforementioned mask. Before he got a chance to examine the ANBU mask, Neji scooped it up and held it in his lap away from Naruto.

"For the last time, Naruto," Neji spoke with no particular anguish in his voice, although he did narrow his eyes to the blonde. "You are not to touch my ANBU mask. You can be punished for it, you know."

"Oh, come on! I'm not going to wear it out of the lunchroom, yeesh." Naruto pouted.

Troublesome Naruto and his childish behavior— the man was definitely too old to have his lip jutting out like that. Shikamaru sat in the empty seat across from Neji and received an earful from Naruto who had apparently been the previous occupant. He wasn't listening to the rambunctious ninja anymore, too busy scrutinizing every inch of his best friend he could see from their seated position searching for evidence the brunette might still be injured. Neji caught him in the middle of the inspection, but Shikamaru didn't bother to stop until he was satisfied. He offered a sheepish half-smile when their eyes met and shrugged. Neji would understand what he meant.

"You look good, Hyūga." Shikamaru nodded his words, grateful his friend had sought medical attention for once.

Neji quirked one corner of his lip, a stark contrast to the expressive Hyūga Shikamaru had come to know, but it was more of a reaction than the stoic man typically allowed in front of so many people. He folded his hands on the table and leaned a little closer; his long bangs spilled over his shoulder which did not go unnoticed by Shikamaru. Nor was Hyūga's tiny smile as the shadow wielder stared overlooked.

"As do you." Neji offered without inflection. "It's good to see you."

"Er…geez guys get a room." Naruto snorted, propping his hands behind his head. "Don't you two live together?"

The comment struck Shikamaru just the same as if someone had smacked him square across the face. Everyone at the table eyeballed the cloud watcher when he choked on a piece of fish, but none of their stares lingered with the exception of one luminous pair of eyes watching him positively puzzled. Naruto took advantage of the distraction, crouched down and tore Neji's ANBU mask from his lap with a gleeful squeak. Neji rolled his eyes but did not move to retrieve his mask for the time being.

"Are you alright?" He questioned.

"Yeah, but what the hell was that supposed to mean?" Shikamaru finally managed.

Rolling his eyes was becoming a habit for Neji. "Ignore Naruto; he's a buffoon."

"Huh?!" Naruto roared, slamming a palm on the table to extend himself dangerously close to Neji's face. "What did you say Hyūga?"

"Did I stutter?" Neji asked, fixing a stern gaze on the blue eyes glaring at him.

"Tch, whatever. You can act like a tough guy all you want. That doesn't explain why you got a mask inspired by Santa Claus!" Naruto chortled.

"For the last time, Uzumaki, it is not a reindeer." Neji sounded like his patience was about to expire.

"Yeah, right! Shikamaru, help me out here!" Naruto lifted the ANBU mask up to his face still snickering to himself behind it. "Am I a reindeer or what?"

Shikamaru blinked ridiculously slow, his steadily widening eyes studying the intricately crafted mask for a long while. So much time in fact that Naruto had lowered it and peered at the shadow wielder with his head cocked and a dumb look on his face. Shikamaru bristled at the attention and scowled.

"You are so stupid. It's a stag." Shikamaru looked down at his plate as he stabbed a piece of fish, tacking on a grumbled, "Troublesome fool."

Naruto groaned. "I thought you were one of the cool guys, Shikamaru. I should've known you would take your roommate's side."

"Naruto," Neji called with practiced restraint.

"Aw, come on. Can't I at least wear it when Kakashi comes in?" Naruto pleaded.

"Naruto." The long-haired ninja tried again, eyes closed as he counted backward from ten.

"Oh!" Naruto exclaimed. "If I grab a pillowcase I can use that as my bag of presents. Kakashi will lov-"

"Naruto!"

"Damn it, Naruto." Kiba barked from behind the blonde before he snatched the mask away and tossed it on the table. "Give the Princess back the mask before he gets his panties in a knot."

Shikamaru shot Kiba a stern, piercing glare that made Inuzuka frown, unsure why the hell the ponytailed man was looking at him that way. With a scoff and an eye roll, he disappeared back to wherever he'd come from moments earlier. Lee jogged over to steer Naruto away with an encouraging rant about the prank they could play on Sakura if they hurried.

"What happened to your mask?" Shikamaru asked coolly, ignoring the burning question and why did you get a stag throbbing on the tip of his tongue.

"It shattered during the last mission; the Akatsuki run in," Neji explained. "Split straight down the middle."

For once Shikamaru could see the use of wearing a forehead protector beneath the ANBU mask, which Neji always did, and he silently thanked the older man for what he considered a troublesome habit. If a force had struck Neji great enough to crack the mask, then it could've done far worse damage. Shikamaru pushed some food around on his plate as he chanced a peek at the white and red porcelain.

Shikamaru cleared his throat so Neji would look at him then gave a slow roll of his shoulders. "I've been thinking about trading mine in for a new one. A design this time instead of a standard issue."

"Shikamaru," Neji said quietly, though he could not hide the look of mortification in his eyes. "Don't you think it will be a bit weird if we both start wearing stag masks?"

"Nah, no stag for me." Shikamaru chuckled. "I have something better in mind."

At the next ANBU briefing, Shikamaru arrived with a falcon mask bound to his hip and his signature bored expression as he shoved his hands in his pockets once stationed beside Neji. Sasuke gave them a strange look that day.