5. Main difference is the transfer of the 'scroll-edit scene'. Perhaps with this backdrop, it will take on a better emotion.
To Ominiousguest: I'm glad you enjoy it! I won't abandon this, because this premise is interesting to me, and I have a pretty firm plotline already. The details are hazy, but the endpoint is clear.
To Pao (Guest): Any POV changes happen only after line breaks, that was still from Shikaku, thanks for clearing that up! Right now, I'm still hammering out the kind of Sakura that will tackle future problems, kinda like laying the groundwork. As people have said, "Happiness is fleeting," and with the canon storyline as it is, 'Happy' is pretty much only for the fillers wherein there's little political machination and action. (That is to say, hardly ever.) I try not to spoil too much, but this will stand quite true for Chains. Less of happiness, more of contentment and camaraderie.
Once again, I thank everyone for their continued interest and support!
"Why did my dad bring you home, anyway, Sakura-san?" comes the curious question of the child who looks like a miniature version of his father.
I smile and ready myself to demur over the situation, only to see the seriousness in Shikamaru's eyes. There's something in it which compels me to reply honestly.
So as he points out the books he uses in the academy, but evidently didn't bring to school today, I give him some version of truth.
"We were discussing our heirs, actually. Your father was offering me help. So I guess that makes you my heir as well, in some form."
There's something a little forlorn in his eyes, perhaps some disappointment, though I cannot even begin to guess at the source.
Indeed, children are such a mystery. Even if so precious.
He smiles as he pulls out a book on chakra theory and hands it to me. "Ah… well, adult things I suppose. Here, this was the only book I actually found interesting. And I guess that makes you my father in some sense."
The boy intercuts new conversation lines with answers to mine and it's chaotic but endearing all the same. He thinks fast. That's… nice, really. Compared to people who would rather drop conversation lines.
Still, his conclusion that I could be something like Nara-sama is maybe too far-fetched, so I laugh and redirect him, "Maybe don't call me your father, Shikamaru-san. How about your sponsor instead?"
His nose wrinkles in distaste before he replies, "Now that sounds even worse than calling you otou-sama. How about big sister instead?"
I shrug in half uncertainty, not prepared to navigate the minefield of formal addresses, flipping through the books he hands to me, quickly scanning the contents then select chapters.
Eventually, he has cleared about a third of his small bookshelf, and Shikamaru helps me with half the stack in my arms.
"Come on, Onee, let's go out onto the patio. It's brighter out, warm with a cool breeze. My favourite spot in the home."
"To nap?" the question I ask comes from somewhere in my heart, not my head – but it's clearly the right thing to have asked. The smile on Shikamaru's face is one of pleased surprise as he nods.
"That and play shogi with my dad."
"How do you read so fast anyway, Sakura-nee?"
Nee? I smile softly as I send another chain out after a brown leaf. He affixed the suffix to my name casually and I realise that when he called me 'Onee' earlier, he had meant it.
"I read a lot, Shikamaru-san. It's just lots of practice." He lies on his side, head propped up on his elbow. Suddenly calling him by his name makes the air awkward. At the same time, it's not as if I can drop it so easily.
As his shadow snags another leaf mid-air, Shikamaru cheers quietly. In tandem, my chain grasps another leaf none too gently, and it crumples.
Keeping count, I'm careful to not let my leaf count end up higher than his. "How many leaves have you gotten so far, nee-chan?" comes his question like a 'Are we there yet?'
Nee-chan? He's serious about this 'calling me an older sister' thing.
I sigh theatrically, "Only 37. You?"
He dives back into catching leaves, "Race you to 50, loser has to do something for the winner!"
Grinning good-naturedly, I accept the challenge with every intention of letting him win. That is the job of a 'Nee-chan'. Right? It's too early to think about heir-ship issues since I have no intentions of dying soon.
But, if he proposed such a thing, then there was something he wanted to request of me but was just too polite to ask.
Focusing, I concentrate on manipulating my chakra like how the textbook said to. Chains floating in front of me, they turn into thinner rods, and the chakra spreads out, saturating the air.
Chakra could cause an adhesive effect, and since it was mine, I would be able to control the strength of the attraction. It's not too different from what I have already been doing, though it is tiring.
As Shikamaru steadily adds to his pile, I carefully allow more chakra to trickle into my magnetic rod construct.
Because it's all about intent, only my desired number of leaves, granted I can even hold that many, will stick. In this case, I was aiming for 12.
5 or so cluster around the topmost tip, and 4 stick to the bottommost tip. Noting that no leaves stick to the centre, I figure that I must have made a false magnetic field.
While there was the floating, central rod, it was the surrounding ambient chakra that caused the leaves to 'stick'.
I have a sudden sinking suspicion that I wasn't doing the chakra control exercise described in the textbook. Though, that matters little. All I need is for those leaves to stick, and stay stuck until I dump them into my pile and then –
"I won!" His triumph chirrup shatters my focus, and the leaves have the gall to float off lazily.
Just as well, my chains snap back into shape and curl around the freed leaves. I give him a mock sigh, before lying back down on the patio, my chains and their leaves floating above me.
Shikamaru curls up against the patio, yawning widely, "That took a lot of effort." I hum in assent, "Then why did you put in so much effort, Shikamaru-san? I won't release you from my heirship simply because of a pile of leaves."
He groans. "So that you'll stop doing that!"
My eyebrows raise, and I roll over to face him. "Stop doing what?"
A semblance of hurt flashes in his eyes, and inwardly, I wonder if I should know. "Calling me like I'm a stranger. Even if I am to be your heir, we don't have to be so stiff with each other. That's just troublesome."
I would, in most circumstances reply with a, "Am I not?" but that's clearly not something he was looking for.
"What should I call you then? 'Shika', as Nara-sama does? Or Shikamaru?" "Just don't add the '-san', Sakura-nee."
A smile curves onto my face, "If that's what you like, Shika-chan."
He blinks at the affectionate form of address, but accepts it without any outward complaint, and smiles even.
Sakura would admit that she expected him to complain that it was too girly, or made him seem like a baby.
Something along those lines, she expected. 'Shika-chan', the casual, easy way it rolled off her tongue.
They lounge about on the patio for a while longer, before Shikamaru suddenly asks if she minds him calling her nee-chan.
She finds it somewhat of an odd question, considering he's been doing it for the past half an hour or so.
"Not at all, Shika-chan." It's a slight pause, before she gets up, smiling down at him.
"The greatest blessing one can have in life is someone to protect and cherish." Her voice softens. "I'm glad I have you..."
And I promise to protect and cherish you with my life.
He's already fallen asleep though, as she spoke and mused, a slight smile across his face. She laughs at this, laughter like the sound of bells, her voice trailing off, "Otouto."
Eyes still carefully shut, Shikamaru feels a pair of sturdy arms slip under him, lifting.
He hopes Sakura-nee meant all the words she said because he hasn't had anyone smile at him like that before.
Her words seemed too quiet, as if they weren't meant to be heard, her laugh after much too delicate for him to intrude upon.
"Sakura-san, I'll take Shikamaru to his room. You can take his textbooks. Please return them once you're done."
But despite that, they make him feel a bit warmer. Her words feel like the warmth his father's arms exude.
"I will, Nara-sama." He realises that she's content to let his father think that they just napped and caught leaves.
Sakura-nee doesn't tell his father that she has already read through all of them. Shikamaru is a Nara first and foremost and they pride themselves in deducing things.
But if his deduction tells him that Sakura-nee is so very cautious around his father, then his logic dictates that he should do something about it. It's odd, how could an heirship agreement be signed without the prerequisite trust?
His head lolls as his father walks up the stairs, up to his room. Downstairs, he hears the main clan gate creak open, then swing shut.
Before him, he hears the sound of a doorknob twisting, feels the change in the air as he's carried into his bedroom.
And as his father lays him down on the bed, pulling off his hair tie, covering him with a blanket, he thinks suddenly. That perhaps, that was what a Mother's smile was like.
Because Sakura-nee's smile felt so familiar and foreign at the same time, like the mother his father must love, like the mother he had never known but did not blame.
Just like that.
If Sakura wasn't entirely honest with herself, she would say that she took the books back because she wanted to practise some more.
This was of course, a lie.
Sakura had already absorbed everything the books had to offer.
A brief timeline of Konoha 'The Village Hidden in the Leaves', an introductory on Chakra, the Leaf Sticking exercise, Ninja jobs, and the Shinobi rules.
Sketchy at best, she would require further reading on every topic.
That, and practice.
But she didn't need to carry the huge stack of books home, crash into a few lamp posts and trip over her own feet.
If Sakura was a bit more honest with herself, she would say that she was being cautious.
This is true to a certain extent, because she doesn't want Nara-sama to report to the Hokage that apparently she reads and cognizes information extremely quick.
According to the brief description of clans, the Nara clan are famed for their intelligence and deduction skills, and if a Nara considers her reading speed to be quick, then it would be quick indeed.
Still, she didn't have to carry all the books. Just some.
Taking none was out of the question because that would imply Sakura was lazy, and that was out of character to him.
Lastly, if Sakura were blatantly honest with herself, not that it was easy to do, she needed a reason to come back.
If she were to be stuck in her house alone, walk in the streets alone, not have a destination in mind, she would go mad.
So, she needed companionship. Lonely. That was how she felt in that large, empty house. Admitting that it was unhealthy did nothing because distancing herself was about as unhealthy.
Latching onto someone who was willing to accept her was a mutualistic relationship. Someone like Shikamaru, whom she knew only for a day or so, having become important to her only proved how deep the cracks ran.
She was scared. Scared that Shikamaru was a ninja under the orders of the Hokage, scared that it was all planned, but her paranoia was unfounded.
His chakra… No matter how trained, even the Hokage's chakra spiked when his chain made a connection.
Nara-sama's was more subdued, cautious but curious as to the chain that was laced with his own signature.
But Shika-chan's. They were like lazy black cats winding around each other, like old friends who had never met. It was at ease.
And it would be for the sake of such people, for Uchiha-san who told her to come over to play, for Naruto-san who complimented her, and for Shika-chan who called her 'Sister'.
For these people, and only these people mattered that she would strive hard.
To become their shield, weapon and support, each and everything they needed her to be, she would become.
Later at night, I edit the scroll. After some deliberation, I write down Nara Shikaku, Nara Shikamaru next to my name. Next, I add in a clause.
In the event that any of the clans die out, ie. No one of the bloodline remaining, they are to be struck out of the scrolls, and all remaining clans must convene a meeting to decide on a replacement clan. The balance among the nations must be kept.
Less of spite, but more of practicality, I edit the scroll further. Leadership is not a gentle mantle. Who would listen to a six-year-old? And to have to play against people like Nara-sama all day is frankly, not my idea of happiness.
Henceforth, the Haruno Merchants are to be known as the Border-crossing Merchant Guild, and no clan has executive rights. All decisions will be made by a joint council, at which the representatives of all clans must be present.
I sign off the scroll as Haruno Sakura, Former Head of the Haruno Merchants.
Now, there was virtually no need for me or Nara-sama to do anything.
All trades were already established, and all payments made directly to the bank accounts. Separately, I had no real desire to grow the business, so unless anyone approached me with a request, it would be unlikely for me to need to interact any more than required with Nara-sama.
He underestimated me once, but that would not happen again. I was under no illusions with regards to the extent of my abilities. Ninja…these were dangerous people, soaked to the core with deception and deceit.
What use is a verbal contract when he could have killed me in his home? They only care about the gains.
So much so that they had no qualms using a 6-year-old child if it so suited them.
Ah, I keep harping on that point so much.
The frightening thing is, that despite what they wanted to do originally, and would still do if they could, I don't hate them. Hating is a very difficult and tiring thing to do, after all.
Because Yuurei knows exactly what things they do, as well as why, and how they do things, and if she were to hate them, she should probably hate herself too.
Because the fact that she knows, shows that she's perfectly capable of doing the same thing.
Edited 30 April 2020. First posted sometime in December 2015.
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Hope you enjoyed,
Kayo.
